


Surface Level

by Captain_Amiraca



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, College AU, Cute, Guaranteed cuteness, Lifeguard Paladins, Love, M/M, Ocean, Romance, Roomates AU, Salty Boys, Soft Boys, Summer AU, Surfboard AU, Sweet, beach au, klance, klance is canon king, lifeguard AU, surfboard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-03-20 13:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13718670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Amiraca/pseuds/Captain_Amiraca
Summary: Keith wanted to get away, he needed to get away. Even if away meant traveling halfway across the country to work for his cousin as a lifeguard, and live with the other college students there. He knows he doesn't belong, but maybe an annoying surfer named Lance can help.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this will be another one of my 5 part Klance stories. This will be an AU, think beach boys, surfers, lifeguard, and roommates AU smushed into one. I hope you enjoy it and enjoy the cuteness factor!

Keith clutched his bag close to his chest, the bus slowly came to a stop. He could already smell the salt in the air, they were at his destination. He looked out the window, his cousin stood on the sidewalk close to the street.

He wore a black t-shirt, blue shorts, and held up a sign that read 'Keith Kogane'. He even had a stupid smile on his face, Keith cringed at the corniness. The bus stopped, it jerked almost throwing Keith forward into the seat in front of him.

"Fucking bus," He grumbled and righted himself. He pushed back his hair and stood up. The bus was surprisingly empty considering his stop. He shrugged and enjoyed the free aisles until he reached the front of the bus. "Thanks." He mumbled to the bus driver. He slotted money into the box.

The doors opened up, and Keith walked outside. The full force of the ocean smell hit him, he took a deep breath. For once he felt at peace like for a moment he could breathe without pressure on his chest.

"Keith!" Keith frowned, in a second his peace was broken. He sighed and turned to look at the disturbance. His cousin came bounding for him.

"Shiro..." He had gotten much taller since the last time he had seen him. He was sporting a new scar across his nose, and white highlights in his hair.

"Hey, long time no see. You look...different." Keith shrugged and looked away cooly.

"That's usually what happens after puberty." Shiro forced a chuckle and folded the paper he held up.

"Uh...yeah. Hey, I'll take you back. I didn't bother taking the car, I figured we could walk and catch up." Keith frowned, he would have been more content skipping all of the talking parts.

"Yeah, sure." He slung his bag over his shoulder. Shiro looked like he wanted to say something, he let out a breath and turned away from Keith.

"Come on, the beach shouldn't be too far away now." He began walking down the sidewalk. Keith followed close behind him. He looked to either side of himself.

Everything about the area screamed beach town. From the sand on the sidewalk to the small shops placed close together. There were already people walking around in bikinis, and bathing suits despite it only being the very beginning of May.

"Pretty awesome here huh?" Shiro asked he looked over his shoulder at Keith. Keith avoided looking directly at him.

"It's okay." He was careful to show his excitement before he even put his stuffed down anything could happen and he'd be gone again. Shiro scoffed.

"Okay my ass, you'll fall in love with this place. I'll give you a week." Keith shrugged again, he had no doubt. He couldn't wait to see the ocean, he just wanted to be close to the ocean again. "So how's Aunt and Uncle? Still, have a stick up their asses?"

"It's only gotten worse. They wanted to send me back to the orphanage." Keith said dimly, he looked up at Shiro. Shiro chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'm not kidding." Shiro's smile fell immediately.

"Keith...sorry. That's shitty, I didn't think they wo-" Keith held up his hand to stop him from continuing.

"It's whatever, I'm here now. I could care less what they do. I'm eighteen anyway." Shiro frowned he slowed down enough so that he was walking next to Keith.

"Doesn't sound like you don't care." Keith resisted glaring at him, he hated the dad like tone Shiro was taking with him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Keith said firmly. "I don't want to talk about it." Keith refused to look at Shiro, he could feel Shiro's eyes trying to force a look. Shiro sighed and faced forward again, falling silent.

After half a mile of walking, Keith heard the first sign of water. Seagulls. He took a deep breath, the salty smell was much closer. He could practically feel the waves against his skin. He willed himself not to speed walk, or go anything above Shiro's pace. He reeled in his excitement and walked as calmly as he could.

"Look, the house is right down here." Shiro lead them off the sidewalk and onto the beach. He pointed ahead of them, there was a large beach house near the rocks, away from the coast. It was supported by thick wooden poles on the parts that weren't supported by the land underneath. To Keith, it looked like something out of an aesthetic. The sand was white, the house was a deep blue, there were seagulls overhead, and the ocean came up to the shore at just the right times.

"Is that one of the houses?" Keith asked softly, he couldn't hide his amazement especially not from Shiro. Shiro chuckled and shook his head.

"No, that's our base. The houses that you and the other guys stay at are going to be a lot smaller."

"Base?" Keith glanced up at Shiro, he didn't see why a group of lifeguards needed a base.

"Well yeah, we have our supplies there. There's actually a lot of work that goes into running this operation. We talk about weather patterns, suspected tide changes, predict the number of people, go over protocol, assign positions. And we have over fifty life vests." Shiro looked at Keith expecting him to ask more. Keith made a small sound of acknowledgment then was silent.

Shiro sighed and lead him the rest of the way to the base. As they walked up the steps Keith could hear sounds coming from inside the room. Shiro looked back at Keith and gave him an apologetic look. Keith wasn't sure what for until Shiro had opened the door.

A bowl of cheerios came hurtling out towards Keith. He quickly ducked and moved to the side. The bowl shattered as it made contact with the steps.

"What the hell?" Keith looked towards the door his body tense and ready for more projectiles.

"Lance are you insane!" A female voice yelled out. A girl in a green one-piece bathing suit peeked out the door frame. "You could have hit this guy!"

"How was I supposed to know there'd be a guy on the other side of the door!" A voice yelled from inside. "Wait, is he cute?" The guy who had spoken quickly walked towards the door and peeked out.

The boy was naturally tan, he looked possibly Latino. His hair was a dark brown, as he readied himself Keith could tell he was already going to be taller than him. Lance's eyes scanned over Keith's figure, a flirtatious smile crept over lips. He quirked an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe, he crossed his arms in an attempt to look as suave as possible.

"What's your name? I'm Lance." His voice had dropped a few octaves lower than his shrill yelling beforehand. Keith felt himself almost blush, he was able to reconcile himself with the fact that Lance was trying to flirt with him wearing a Lorax t-shirt, and turtle swimming shorts.

"Lance, do you mind cooling it? You just threw a bowl of cereal at him." Pidge sighed, her hair was cut short but it was a with strands falling all over her face. Lance narrowed his eyes at her, she ignored it and turned to Keith. "Sorry about that, I'm Pidge. And who might you be?"

"He's my cousin, you know the one I told you about?"

"The delinquent?" Lance unfolded his arms and his voice sounded normal again. Keith could feel heat building from the base of his neck, he turned to glare at Shiro. He raised his hands up in defense.

"Woah, I did not say delinquent I said trouble with authority in the past."

"To be fair to Lance, you were implying delinquent," Pidge said, she pushed up her glasses up her face. They looked splashed with water. "But to be fair to Shiro, you don't fucking call a delinquent a delinquent to their face!" Lance cringed away from Pidge.

"I'm not a delinquent." Keith gritted out, he didn't trust himself to say much more. He felt stupid about getting emotional about this.

"I heard delinquent, are we gossiping about Shiro's cousin again?" A fourth voice said behind Pidge and Lance. A tall guy stepped up behind them. He was holding a cereal box of Cheerios, a couple already in his hands. Pidge winced and Lance made a shaking motion with his hand and head. Hunk frowned and looked at them finally to Keith. "And...he's right there isn't he?"

"Hunk, this is my cousin." Shiro stepped closer to Keith and put a hand on his shoulder. Keith flinched and willed himself to stay rooted to his spot. "He is not a delinquent, and we can assure him that we  _do not_ gossip about him." The three teenagers nodded quickly, each of them flashing Keith awkward smiles.

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. He was already over it, he had hoped he could have a fresh start. He hoped that they at least didn't know that he was an orphan.

"Uh, how about I show you inside? If you get accepted into the College then you'll be spending a lot of time here, and not just in the summertime." Shiro lifted his hand off of Keith's shoulder. Keith took that opportunity to sidestep away from him. Shiro gestured towards the door, the three teenagers parted and let him by. Keith followed Shiro without another look towards them.

If Keith hadn't been in a such a shit mood he might have taken the time to actually appreciate the base. It looked more like a clubhouse than a place of official business. To the left of Keith, there was a kitchen with dishes piling up. Towards the center of the room, there was an oval table that was covered with different charts and graphs. There were a dozen red and white lifesavers hung on the wall amongst other tacky sea-themed decors. Towards the wall, there was a sea green coach, in front of a surprisingly sophisticated TV.

There was a loud slam behind Keith, he quickly turned around and took a step back. Lance froze, his hands were near the wall and on the floor in front of him was a surfboard.

"Whoops..." He chuckled awkwardly. He bent down and slowly picked it up. Keith felt inward pain, especially seeing a surfboard-like that being handled carelessly.

"Lance if you break another surfboard you'll be on kiddie pool duty for the rest of your days," Shiro said, his voice boomed but it held no real weight. Hunk and Pidge stepped into the room, both equally unimpressed with Lance.

"I won't, this one is plastic anyway. Continue with your tour thingy!" Lance assured, he propped the surfboard back up against the wall. Keith let out a slow breath and turned back around, it was no relief that Lance would be one of the people working with him. Shiro's sigh mirrored Keith's, he gestured towards the table.

"Home base, this is where we meet during work days. We have a schedule laid out usually, and we get the days forecast." He walked to the head of the table, there was a tablet with a waterproof case on. "This is what you watch while drinking your morning coffee, or tea or whatever. It has the weather channel pre-downloaded and our friend Coran will have a birds-eye view of how things look. He'll send us an email, or message. "

"He's usually out on the ocean, or in his biplane before we even wake up. He's the owner of the beach." Pidge explained. Shiro nodded, he began talking again but Lance interrupted.

"I have a question." Shiro sighed and looked to the side of him towards Lance.

"Yes?"

"Will he have to take a swim test? We all had to take one before we came here. Also, has he taken proper lifeguard training? Because I had to take a shit ton and it was tedious and annoying. No offense, but he might drown someone"

"He's taken training, yes, I'll just have to give a test before beach season actually starts. Does that sound good to you?" Shiro asked with a tad bit of friendly sarcasm. Lance blushed very lightly.

"Yeah uh, makes sense. Sorry." Lance snuck away towards the kitchen. Keith looked away from Lance trying to keep himself from getting too pissed. All of them already knew about his past troubles, and it seemed like Lance thought he was going to drown people.

"Now-" A loud repetitive buzzing came from Shiro's pocket. "I don't get a break do I?" Shiro rhetorically as he slipped out his phone.

"Nope, you never do," Pidge said without a hint of sympathy in her voice. Shiro turned away from them and began talking to the person on the line with him. The teenagers were turned away from Keith as well, talking casually amongst themselves.

Keith watched them silently, he doubted there'd be any point in trying to make friends with them. They looked perfectly comfortable in their friend group already, that was excluding the fact they probably thought he was some low-life. He sighed, he assumed that they were in college. They looked about that age, it was harder to tell for Pidge but he guessed if she was here she was going to school.

Hunk's head turned towards him, he gave Keith a smile that threw him off guard. Keith found himself almost blushing. Hunk gestured towards Keith with the box of Cheerios.

"Want any?" He offered. Keith was surprised, but recovered and shook his head.

"No..." He paused a moment. "Thank you..." He added after another thought. Hunk shrugged and continuing eating the cheerios he had left. Pidge, who had been standing near him, reached into Hunk's box and pulled out a handful.

"Breakfast might have been a mess, but at least we have Cheerios." She let the cereal trickle into her mouth. Lance looked less pleased, he crossed his arms and almost looked pouty.

"Well I wanted a breakfast sandwich, so Cheerios did not live up to my expectations." Hunk and Pidge both rolled their eyes at Lance.   
"You probably would have gotten some if you had woken up earlier." Hunk said, he sounded reasonable but Lance's irritation didn't seem to be phased.

"Oh give him a break, poor guy was probably painting his toenails," Pidge said her voice laced with sarcasm.

"You know I like adding a clear coat, it keeps them looking nice." Lance showed his fingers for effect. Pidge and Hunk began laughing at his expense. Lance crossed his arms, glaring at both of them.

"Pidge suit up, Coran says there's a problem by the coast," Shiro said, he clicked his phone off and shoved it into his pocket. Pidge immediately stopped laughing and looked serious.

"Another sea turtle?" She asked.

"Yeah, sounds like babies too. He wants you to bring the right tools, and you in your diving suit."

"Do you need any help? I know I'm not a diver but I'm good at keeping the big ones calm." Hunk said he put his Cheerio box on the kitchen counter. Shiro shook his head.

"No, you wouldn't be much help no offense. Why don't you and Lance finish giving Keith a tour, Lance he'll be in your room so behave." Shiro said seriously. He had turned to talk to Pidge but she had already disappeared into one of the rooms.

"Sorry for not showing you around, but you'll be fine. It's almost night time anyway, I'll see you in the morning." Shiro didn't wait for Keith's none existent response and quickly jogged down a hall.

Lance watched Shiro go then looked back at Keith. He flashed him a less awkward smile.

"You know you look a lot like him for a..." Keith narrowed his eyes and turned the full force of his glare on Lance.

"For a what?" Keith spat, Hunk visibly cringed. Lance immediately looked regretful.

"Uh let's continue with this tour huh guys?" He chuckled trying to clear the tension. Lance was ducking most of his body behind Hunk.

"Whatever." Keith murmured and crossed his arms. He calmed his outward anger sucking it back deep into himself.

"All you need to know about this place is come here in the morning and if there's anything you need food included it will be in here. Shiro keeps this entire place stocked pretty well, oh and don't get water on that TV. Pidge will kill you, dead." Hunk said seriously. Keith nodded slowly, feeling no fear.

"Why don't we show him the different stations?" Lance asked, peeking out from behind Hunk.

"Sure, but let's hurry before it gets dark. Don't want him falling into a water pool."

"Why? He said he can swim?" Lance earned another dirty look from Keith.

"Because he'd be wet and cold," Hunk rolled his eyes. He looked at Keith giving him another kind smile. "Don't worry Lance isn't usually so dumb, I think Cheerios got to him."

"Why were you guys eating Cheerios at 6 at night?" Keith asked he didn't look directly at him.

"Well we kind of pulled an all-nighter last night, so our clocks are pretty backward." Hunk chuckled, he slipped his hands into his pocket. "Come on, I'll make it quick then you can go unpack." Keith nodded and looked up to meet Hunk's eye, he suppressed a blush. He didn't understand why anyone would look happy to see him. He felt himself forgive Hunk for calling him a delinquent.

***

"And that's all of it, sorry that was a big unload." Hunk laughed, Keith found himself smiling a bit with him. They stopped walking just outside of the rising coast. Lance rubbed his goosebump-covered arms.

"Shit it's cold, can I give him the tour of the inside of a warm room?" Lance asked Hunk.

"I was thinking maybe I could make him a dinner, maybe some red mashed potatoes. Oh oh! Shish Kabobs, give him some island flair." Hunk licked his lips like he was already imagining the food in front of him. Lance looked unimpressed and looked over at Keith.

Keith could barely feel the cold, he had been blushing too much that evening. It was strange being around Hunk, it was like he was a natural magnet for happiness and good feelings. Keith could only remember his previous anger when Lance said something especially dumb.

"I thought you had a dinner date with Shay?" Lance said blandly, Hunk's eyes ripped open. He immediately looked guilty.

"Damn your right! I should already be changed by now, she'll be here way too soon." He looked towards Keith and flashed an apologetic smile.

"Sorry I gotta run, but I'm leaving you in cap-..." He looked towards Lance. "Hands." He laughed, he waved once more to Keith and jogged in the opposite direction.

"Who's Shay..." Keith asked slowly, he moved his bag off of his shoulders and clutched it close to his chest.

"Oh, just his girlfriend," Lance said casually, Keith immediately felt angry with himself. He had no idea why he had let himself, even begin to hope. He took a deep breath and glared angrily at the sand like it had been the problem.

"Let's go, I'm cold." Keith seethed. Lance nodded and began walking, Keith followed silently behind him.

Lance slowed so that he was in line with Keith. He tried to walk closer to him but Keith kept a healthy distance between them.

"You seem cold, do you want my jacket?" Lance asked he sounded sincere. Keith didn't trust himself to answer so he shrugged instead. Lance paused then unzipped his jacket. "Trade?" He gestured to Keith's bag. Keith looked down at his bag then back at Lance. He had no idea what Lance was playing at, but if he wanted to hold his heavy bag that was his choice.

'Thanks..." He mumbled and handed over the bag. Lance slung the bag over his shoulder and handed Keith the sweatshirt. Keith slipped it on and zipped it up, he immediately felt warmer. He looked over at Lance, he didn't look phased from the cold. Despite complaining about it a few minutes ago.

"You're welcome...and sorry for earlier. It was kind of an awful introduction, I wasn't thinking, and I was h-stupid."

"H-stupid?"

"Oh it's like h-angry but my brain decides to not work, and I, in turn, have no filter. It's not my place to judge you and I don't care that you're a foster kid." Keith wasn't sure what to say that it was a while before Keith could answer him properly.

"I just wanted a fresh start." He admitted, the same stupid emotions he felt before came flooding back. He refused to get any tears on Lance's sweatshirt, instead, he took deep breaths and closed his eyes.

"You'll get a fresh start!" Lance stopped walking and touched Keith's shoulder. "I'll completely erase what I knew before, my first impression of you will start right now." Keith stopped and opened his eyes to look at him. He prayed his eyes weren't red. He'd shoot himself if Lance's new first impression of him was a teary-eyed idiot, in his sweatshirt that was a size too big.

"Really?"' Lance made weird noises with his mouth, imitating a rewinding tape.

"Woah, who are you and why are you wearing my sweatshirt? By the way, my name is Lance." Lance extended his hand towards Keith. Keith bit his lip keeping a giggle from escaping. Keith took his hand and shook it.

"I'm Keith, and this sweatshirt is mine. Sorry, you must be thinking of a different sweatshirt."

"Oh, my bad." Lance laughed, he took his hand off of Keith's shoulder and began walking again. Keith followed after the smallest of smiles on his lips. "By the way, I know I don't know you but make sure Hunk isn't your favorite just because he offered you food."

"I never said he was my favorite." They neared a small house. It was about the size of a condo. It was safely on land not supported by any wooden beams. Lance looked at him hopefully.

"Does that mean that there is a vacant favorite spot open?"

"Well I don't know, I'd say maybe my cousin would be ahead of you but he was the one spreading rumors."

"Oh, it wasn't actually his fault...well kind of. He mentioned you, but after a few drinks he  _really_  mentioned you." Keith bit his lip and glanced at Lance.

"What did he say?"

"Not much...just about his Aunt and Uncle, you were forced to live your life however they wanted, you used to live by the ocean your first few foster homes, and told us about the party."

"Oh." Keith took deep breaths, trying to shoo away from the party. He needed to act like a normal functioning human being.

"Yeah...but I don't remember any of that stuff remember?" Keith offered Lance a small smile and nodded. They approached the house and walked up the steps together. "Oh but hey, if the college accepts you then you'll be going to the same college as us." Lance opened the door for him.

"Oh, you guys are in college?" Keith walked inside. The decor was surprisingly a lot cleaner than Keith had expected. It was very clean, the furniture was simple but modern feeling. Lance had managed to maximize the amount of space he had. Lance stepped in and closed the door.

"Yeah, this is our summer home. It's a lot cheaper to live here, then on campus over the summer." Keith nodded, he hoped that maybe next summer he'd be doing the same thing. "Oh uh, I'll show you your room."

"That'd be nice." Lance began walking down the hall he gestured for Keith to follow. He brought Keith to the last door on the right, it was across from another door.

"That's my room and this is yours." He took off Keith's bag and handed it over to him. "I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the layout, I'm all done with tours for the day." Lance laughed, and Keith smiled.

"Yeah, I should be okay." He put his hand on his door handle and clutched the strap of the bag tightly.

"Well if you need me, I'll be right next door." He smiled at Keith and turned opened his room door and disappearing inside.

Keith watched the door closed, he turned back to his room door. Slowly, he opened the door. It was dark inside, he felt around the wall by the door and flipped a switch. An overhead lamp turned on. The room was incredibly underwhelming. It was basically just a square with a bed in the center. There was another door, with an anchor on it. Keith assumed it led to his own bathroom.

He walked over to his new bed and put his bag down. He unzipped the bag and took his time taking items. He had unexpectedly not hated his roommate as much as he thought he would originally.

He changed into more comfortable clothing and sat on the bed. He folded up Lance's sweatshirt and hung it on the edge of the bed. He picked up his tattered old bear from a pile of folded clothes and hugged it against his chest. The fraying ends of its blue bow tickling his nose. The more he thought about Hunk the more he realized that it was just his sense of isolation forcing him to attach to strangers. It was most likely that Hunk was just a generally nice person, and Keith looked as sad and as pathetic as ever. Pidge seemed nice enough, a bit sassy bit he appreciated that in people.

Lance was a different story for him. He was positive that he would have hated him. But after talking to him alone, his feelings were confused. His mind led him to his first interaction with Lance. Lance  _had_  flirted with him. Keith sat up straighter, he bit his lip letting his mind wander.

Maybe, this was his chance. The chance he had to act like an 'average' college student. This time without all the people, and the loud music that made his head hurt. He put his bear down and stood back up. He was wearing sweatpants, and a baggy grey shirt, he looked like a mess but his new found libido didn't seem to care.

He opened his room door and stood in front of Lance's. He could hear foreign music on the other side, coupled with Lance's shrill singing voice. For a brief moment he wondered if this was taking being a college student to an extreme, he even considered that Lance had no real interest in him.

"I'm just lonely..." Keith whispered to himself, he almost turned around when the door clicked and the door was flung open.

"Despa-" Lance opened his eyes just before he ran into Keith. "Oh, hey sorry." He chuckled and took a step back. "Did you need something?" Keith turned fully to Lance, his brain was yelling at his body.

"I..." He took a deep breath, he leaned on his toes and connected his lips with Lances. Lance's eyes were wide for a moment he was stiff. Keith was moments away from complete panic when Lance's hand found its way on Keith's back. Lance relaxed completely and tipped his down.

The kiss was surprisingly warm, Lance felt hot. Hotter than anyone else Keith had kissed, he also seemed like he knew what he was doing. Lance's other arm wrapped around Keith's back until Lance had Keith completely in his clutches as they kissed.

Keith was the first one to break the kiss, taking short panting breaths. Lance separated but kept his face close. He looked confused, surprised, but just as turned on as Keith felt.

"Huh, wow, uh...well. Do you?" He pointed behind him back into his room. Keith nodded quickly, no matter how many breaths he took he felt like he'd never find his breath again. It was like Lance had taken it. "Great!" Lance began walking backward still holding onto Keith. Keith felt like he was floating and Lance was pulling him along. As the door closed behind him he let the scent of the sea and the music envelope. He felt okay for once.


	2. Chapter 2

Knocking, Keith could hear repeated knocking from afar. He brought his arm slowly to his face and rubbed his eyes. He groaned he felt like he couldn’t force his body to move even if he tried. He felt a vague soreness but couldn’t exactly place it. As he took deep breaths the smell of ocean water and something else began to fill his nostrils. He began to hear muffled yelling. Keith groaned louder he tried to sit up but felt a restriction around his waist. In alarm, Keith opened his eyes and looked to the side of him. Centimeters away from his face was Lance’s

His body lurched backward away. He moved hard enough to free himself from Lance’s grasp. He slapped his hand over his mouth ensuring no other sounds escaped. He quickly sat up and looked down at the bed assessing his situation. Lance’s body was completely covered by the large comforter that they had both shared. Keith, however, did not have as much coverage.

“Shit...” He mumbled, he looked down at the ground and located his shorts. Now the yelling vaguely sounded like his name. “Don’t be Shiro...” He mumbled he bent over and groaned as he picked up his shorts. He slowly slipped on his shorts and rubbed at his eyes. He looked around Lance’s room not fully appreciating it beforehand. The decor was pretty modern for an older beach house. He recognized a couple posters from various TV shows.

Keith pulled up his shorts properly and slowly made his way to the door. He stepped on a wrapper on the way there. He didn’t look down fearing the worst. Keith looked back at Lance safe in bed before he left the room. He closed the door gently and began walk hobbling towards the door. He was positive that the person on the other side was Shiro. He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath before he slowly cracked it open.

“Jesus Christ, what took you so long?” Shiro said dramatically, Keith opened the door fully and crossed his arms.

“I was asleep,” He said simply. Shiro was dressed in a wetsuit and held one in his hands.

“Well obviously, I swear I was out here for at least an hour.” Shiro’s words slowed as he got a proper look at Keith. “Did you...go out last night?” Keith crossed his arms tighter against his chest, almost hugging himself.

“No.” Shiro looked skeptical, his eyes widened as a thought dawned on him.

“You didn’t-”

“Why did you wake me up so early? Work shifts haven’t even started I should be allowed to sleep in.” Keith cut in, ignoring the concerned look in Shiro’s eye.

“Well...I know you’re probably tired but Pidge and I were about to head out to the coast for a quick check. Make sure no turtles or other animals are stuck near the nets there.”

“Why do I have to go?”

“Well, you’ve already met Hunk and Lance. I’m guessing you know at least one of them pretty well.” Keith narrowed his eyes, he hated the implication that was in Shiro’s voice. No matter how true it may be. “So I wanted you to see the coast and maybe get to know Pidge a little more.”

“Fine. What’s that?” Keith gestured to the wetsuit.

“It’s cold in the mornings it’s better to wear this even if we don’t go underwater. The splashes are enough to chill you to the bone.” Shiro threw the suit towards him, Keith didn’t move at all to catch it instead just letting it drop to the ground.

“How do you know my size?”

“You’re my cousin I know all,” Shiro said in his attempt to sound mysterious. Keith’s face showed no reaction. “We'll meet us at the bottom of the house, we’ll be waiting. You...can take a shower if you want.” Shiro’s eyes scanned over Keith’s body once more before he turned and headed down the stairs.

Keith crossed his arms feeling too transparent at the moment. He closed the door and locked it behind. He slowly bent down and picked up the wetsuit ignoring any pain.

Keith made his way to the bathroom and took a shower as quickly as his body allowed him. As he dried his body he looked at himself in the mirror.

“Hey Lance, could you make it any more obvious?” He mumbled, his neck was littered with hickeys going from light to dark. Keith sighed and rubbed at them hoping magically some would go away. He looked around at many bathroom supplies that Lance had. None of them being concealed.

Keith sighed and slipped on the wetsuit, he was just glad the wetsuit had a small turtleneck. Covering the worst of the hickeys. He couldn’t think of anything else he needed so he left the bathroom and headed outside.

In a considerably worse mood than before Keith closed the door harder than he had closed Lance’s door. He hoped that it was enough to wake Lance up. He looked out at the view in front of their beach home. He had to admit it was calming. The sky was still orange with the emerging dawn.

“Hey, are you coming down or what?” Shiro called from the bottom of the steps. Instead of answering him Keith just began slowly making his way down the steps. His general soreness began to get numb with each step. By the time he stood next to Shiro he was able to ignore it. “Come on we’ve kept Pidge waiting too long.” Shiro began walking forward, Keith silently followed behind.

Keith tried to remember the events of last night. He wasn’t intoxicated but everything happened so quickly it was hard to place events. His cheeks reddened and he stared at the back of Shiro’s head to calm his overactive brain.

They soon reached the edge of the beach where a dark grey motor boat was waiting. Pidge was sitting inside her arms crossed and an impatient look on her face. Her wetsuit was identical to the one Shiro and Keith wore.

“We’ve already missed the best time to go out, what took so long?” Shiro gestured to Keith with his thumb. Keith shrugged his shoulders, inwardly feeling guilty about messing up their schedule. Pidge took a deep breath and shook her head.

“It’s fine there's always tomorrow. And don’t blame Keith completely, he’s probably exhausted and you woke him up at 5:30 am.”

“Well yeah, I didn’t give him too much flack. Let’s just get a move on,” Shiro said, he got behind the boat and began pushing it.

“Are you going to get in?” Pidge asked she was holding up some sort of water thermometer. Keith took a moment to realize Pidge had been talking to him.

“Uh yeah.” He mumbled and climbed inside. He made sure to keep a healthy distance away from Pidge. He sat on the opposite side of the motorboat and rested his arm over the side. Shiro pushed the into the water and hopped in, sitting closest to the motor. He turned on the motor and the boat shot off into the water. “I thought you had better boats than this?” Keith had to shift awkwardly, the metal seats coupled with his already sore back didn’t improve any of his soreness.

“We do, but they are all locked up until beach season. Both for safety reasons and money reasons.” Pidge said she had one of her hands over the side of the boat.

“Mostly safety, during the heart of winter even if it doesn’t get too cold on land the water is freezing. The waves are also terrifying, and extremely dangerous. A boat like this would get toppled over in a second.” Shiro rubbed the head of the motor and looked ahead of them. Keith nodded and crossed his arms, he cringed at the slight splashes of water but they kept him awake.

“So...Keith how was your first night here?” Pidge asked from behind him. Keith tensed for a moment, figuring she had seen one of his hickeys and assumed the worst. He looked over at her and saw nothing but sincerity.

“It was fine, smelled like the ocean.”

“Gee I wonder why.” Pidge sarcasm was clear but she smiled good-naturedly. “I was worried the sound of the ocean would keep you awake, it’s pretty noisy.”

“No, I uh...” He couldn’t even remember when he exactly fell asleep. “I was fine, slept deeply and stuff.”

“Nice, isn’t there a two hour different or something from here and Maine?”

“It’s a 3 hours difference, and Maine is ahead.”

“Gee that’s a big difference. Are you not weirded out? Especially going from ice and tundra to the sweetness of the sea?” Keith almost smiled, he shook his head.

“Maine isn’t all ice and tundra, it’s just colder longer so there’s not much to do. Of age people usually just sit and drink a lot. The parties aren’t that great either, you can’t really go out.”

“You went to parties? As in multiple” Shiro sounded completely shocked. “How did Uncle Zarkon let you?”

“What kind of name is Zarkon?” Pidge looked between them baffled. Keith and Shiro respectively ignored her.

“Of course he didn’t.” Keith crossed his arms again, his head looking back out towards the coast. It really was an amazing view. “But if I didn’t I might...I don’t know but I went to a couple.”

“Didn’t you get arrested at one or whatever? Shiro told us something about it but he slurred too many words.” Keith felt a constricting feeling in his chest and stopped answering questions. He instead focussed on the splashes of the water, he looked down trying to catch a glimpse of the occasional fish.

“Sorry if that was touchy,” Pidge said softly, Keith looked over to see her hands folded tightly in her lap. “Don’t mean to act like Lance, but we’ve been starved of any exciting news since school ended.

“I’m not a tabloid.” Keith felt a familiar fire burning in his chest.

“No no, of course, you aren’t we’re just...nosey sorry. You don’t have to tell us shit, and I’ll tell the guys to not bother you about it anymore either.” Keith looked at her wearily, despite the way he acted he really didn’t want to make enemies with everyone here.

“Fine.” He let out a small breath, trying to ease the tightness. He leaned down a bit so his fingers skimmed the very top of the water. It was cold, but the constant flow against his fingers set his heart at ease.

“Can you tell me more about Maine?” Pidge asked, her voice sounded curious.

“There’s not much to say. I didn’t especially like it, it was the worst state I’ve been to.” He didn’t turn towards her relishing in the calming feeling of the water. Shiro stirred the boat along a line of buoys.

“Was it that bad?”

“It wasn’t bad, just not the best.” Keith appreciated Pidge not asking about why he had been to enough states to compare Maine too.

“What was your favorite State?”

“California. I was born here, not in this town but pretty close. I spent a decent amount of time here.”

“Is that why you wanted to come back?”

“Yeah, I missed the ocean. The beaches in Maine, when we could go to one, smelled kind of gross. I couldn’t relax enough to enjoy the water.” He took his numbed finger out of the water. “And I wanted to go to the college here.”

“Really? Never thought our college would have anyone traveling cross country.” Pidge sounded slightly amused, Keith almost felt inclined to tell her that it was more than just that. Keith shrugged, not sure exactly how to respond to her statement.

“What are you majoring in?”

“Marine biology of course, why else would I spend all my time on a beach?”

“Because you like water?” Pidge and Shiro laughed at his comment, Keith looked behind him confused. He hadn’t made a joke.

“Do you know what you’re going to get major in yet?”

“Not really, I just hope I get in.”

“You’ll get in,” Shiro said confidently from behind him, he slapped a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith nearly jumped out of the boat, instead, his body shifted up slightly and he turned around. “Don’t be so anxious about it, this school barely gets any out of state students.” Again Keith shrugged despite the encouragement his feelings didn’t change. He turned back around so Shiro couldn’t see his blush.

“Hey, do you mind dropping me off at that rock formation? I have a couple of tests I need to run on the water specifically around it.”

“Leaving you stranded on a pile of rocks would leave me with a pretty guilty conscience,” Shiro muttered he slowly guided the boat towards them regardless.

“Don’t worry it follows the mainland, it’s just a path that leads all the way out here.” Pidge scooted near to where Keith was sitting and pointed out. Keith’s eyes followed the curve of the rock formation, he couldn’t see the ending as it disappeared back where they came from.

“And if you fall into the water and break your leg?” Shiro slowed the boat down near the side of the formation. Only the very top of the rocks was completely dry, the rest of it had been splashed by the never-ending waves.

“Then I have my handy dandy waterproof radio.” She leaned over and grabbed a bag that was a few feet in front of her feet. Keith looked down at her feet, the water shoes she had on looked expensive, the soles looked like they had more grip than any he had ever owned. He wiggled his toes, he hadn’t even bothered to bring water shoes before he left.

“Well if you get hurt remember I warned you, and I hope you’ll feel guilty about how much I’ll worry about you,” Shiro said as Pidge climbed out of the boat. She hopped onto the rocks and carefully stuck her feet in gaps to properly get to the top.

“Yeah whatever dad bye! Bye Keith.” Pidge waved behind her, she threw one leg up on the rock surface and stood up. The rock formation wasn’t especially tall, she was just short.

“Bye!” Shiro called as he guided the boat away from her and the rocks. Keith waved slightly not sure if she saw him or not. He sat in silence as Shiro guided the boat back.

“So, Keith.” Keith rolled his eyes, he could already hear the tone of his voice. He wondered if he could just swim back to the coast. “I can tell that you’ve been...sexually active with Lance. And that’s okay but I’m worried about you.” Keith narrowed his eyes ahead of him, he couldn’t even face the man he was talking to.

“What? Afraid I’m going to get attached to him? Worried that I’m going to use his affection to make up love I never got because I’m an orphan. Do you think I’m going to cling to him and go psycho if he leaves me? Are you going to psychoanalyze me or some shit?”

“That’s not it-” Shiro tried to continue but Keith felt like he was on the warpath. He knew he could never say these things to any proper adult, but Shiro never felt like an adult to him. He was always just his stupid overprotective cousin.

“Well don’t okay? We had sex, some call it a one night stand. I’m a big boy and I can handle still living and interacting with him. It’s a normal young adult thing to do, I’m 18 and I’m a normal young adult. Normal people have sex and move on, so that’s that. I’m okay.” Keith was scowling ahead of him, he hoped the harder he stared at the fading rock formation the less likely the tears in his eyes would fall.

“Woah Keith, calm down. I’m not analyzing you or anything. And I understand that you’re an adult and you can have adult relationships. I’m just saying, that Lance flirts with a lot of people. He’s not a bad guy but he’s probably not looking for a serious relationship. So you probably shouldn’t expect one or get offended if there is never one.” Shiro said with as much as calmness as Keith always expected for him. Keith immediately began to feel shitty for blowing up on him.

“Sorry...I just assumed...”

“No it’s okay, I guess when you don’t always have the most stable home life people must make assumptions or try to figure out your profile.”

“Yeah, it gets annoying.” He dipped his finger back in the water and swirled it around in the water as they drove back. Shiro was gracious enough not to force any more dialogue on him.

They neared the short relatively quickly. It was much lighter out now if he had to guess the time he might have assumed 7 or 7:30. Shiro stopped the boat as they got deeper into shallow water.

“I’ll just push the boat on shore the rest of the way if you don’t want to get wet stay on. If you don’t mind get of-” Keith didn’t wait for him to finish, hopped off the boat. The splash his body made encompassing all of his body. He shivered but felt more alert. “Well okay then...”

“Can I use a surfboard?” Keith asked, his fingers wiggled in the sand.

“Yeah go ahead, but I’d suggest keeping the wetsuit on. It’s still freezing.” Keith nodded and began walking forward, he paused and looked back at Shiro.

“Thanks.” Shiro nodded in return, Keith continued walking forward and back on shore.

He walked to the main meeting house. Surprised with himself that he had actually remembered. He opened the door surprised to see people inside. A beautiful girl with rich tan skin equal in tone to Lance was leaned against the table. A bowl of cereal was behind her, she smiled warmly as she spoke to Lance. Lance’s body language and smiled read flirty, exactly how he’d been with Keith the previous day. One arm was on the table she was leaning on and the way he leaned into her read nothing else but desire.

Keith didn’t know why he felt shitty, but he understood he had no right to be. Afterall Shiro was right. He shouldn’t feel special. He grabbed the surfboard closest to the door and quietly closed the door. He took deep breaths and trained his mind to only think about the harsh ocean he was about to try and navigate. He held his surfboard under his arm and took off.

*****

“Sh-” Keith tumbled off of his board again into the cold water. He barely felt it anymore, but he did feel the waves attempting to pull him down deeper and deeper. He struggled against it, his arms clawing at the water until his head resurfaced again. He took a deep breath filling his lungs with much-needed oxygen. He scowled at the red board, wondering if it was cursed. “Maybe it’s just me,” He mumbled. He swam to the board again. He threw an arm over it holding it in place so that he could throw his leg over as well. He panted on the board on all fours, all of his limbs were shaking from exhaustion but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

He struggled to his feet his legs shaking. He didn’t trust himself to even balance anymore. His arms stuck out trying to level himself out.

“Hey! If you wipe out again you might drown!” A voice shouted from the shore. He turned his head too quickly trying to locate the sound. He gasped as the waves shifted the board slightly and he fell backward into the water. He tensed as he braced himself. Something about this fall really threw his body for a loop. It took him a moment to orient himself in the water. For a split second, he had worried that he was too far down to get up in time. He calmed himself and slowly made his way to the top, his vision almost blurry with lack of oxygen. His head reached the surface and he gasped for breath, parts of his hair getting plastered to his face.

“Dude I thought you were about to drown!” The voice called. Keith looked around finally finding the source of call. Of course, it had been Lance, he was holding two plates in his hand and had a towel thrown over his shoulder. Keith kept his face calm and swam back to his board. “Listen you can’t get back on that thing again! You barely know how to surf and it’s fucking 7:30 at night!” Keith grabbed his board regardless, he tried to lift himself back up but he just couldn’t. His pruned hands could barely find grip.

As much as he wanted to cooly ignore Lance he was ready to fall asleep in the water. He began pushing his board back towards shore swimming behind it. When Keith got on land he dragged the board far enough until it was just white sand. He dropped the board and almost fell back in the sand.

“Woah Woah Woah, stop you’ll get sand all over the place.” Lance approached him power walking with two plates of waffles in his hand. “Take this,” Lance thrust his shoulder Keith’s way, wanting him to take hold of it. Keith slowly reached out and grabbed the towel, he rubbed himself down with it. At some point during the 12 hours, he had been outside he had changed into just swim shorts as the weather warmed up. He took his time drying his torso and appendages.

“Dude you’ve been out here all day, do you even know how to surf?” Keith looked up at him then back down continuing to dry.

“I did when I was younger, I should remember again.”

“Cut yourself some slack, you have longer appendages and weigh more. Have you even eaten today yet?” Lance asked he held the waffled closer to Keith, the smell made his stomach rumble. They had to be delicious they were even dotted with strawberries. Keith had to think about it, he did have to take a couple small breaks on the beach to soak up some sun and warm out. But he hadn’t actually gone inside any of those times.

“No.”

“Well, no wonder you were shaking like a jellyfish.” Lance walked to the other side of him. “When you’re done with the towel put it on the board.” Keith followed Lance with his eyes, he nodded and quickly finished drying. When he finished he placed the towel on the board. Lance knelt down and put the plate on the towel. “Come on and eat with me.”

“I don’t want waffles.” Keith crossed his arms.

“Don’t lie to me, everyone wants waffles.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out hand sanitizers. “One squirt and the magic begins.” He waved it in the air. Keith frowned but slowly knelt down too. He held out one hand towards Lance, he looked away not meeting his eye. If Lance noticed the coldness he said nothing about it, he squirted hand sanitizer in Keith's hands then his own.

Keith properly sat down on one side of the surfboard rubbing his hands. He wondered if he was supposed to eat with his hands. He glanced at Lance who had already picked up his waffle. Keith shrugged and copied him, he picked up his waffle and took a bite.

They ate in silence, Keith finished his waffle a decent amount of time before Lance. Slightly embarrassed, he nibbled on the strawberries. Leaving the blueberries the only thing left on his plate.

“You going to eat the blueberries too?” Lance had finished his waffled and had a strawberry in his hand.

“I don’t like them,” Keith said simply, he didn’t want to seem ungrateful but he hated the way blueberries tasted in his mouth.

“Huh.” Lance put down the strawberry and placed it on Keith’s plate. He began transferring all his strawberries onto Keith's plate and took Keith’s uneaten blueberries.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked.

“Making it fair.” Lance shrugged and ate a blueberry.

“But you like both.”

“But it’s okay if I only eat one. Now eat your strawberries.” Lance casually continued on eating blueberries and looking out at the almost setting sun.

When they had finished Lance stacked the plates and threw the dirty towel over his shoulder. He looked at the board.

“That’s not even a beginners board,”

“There are different board levels?” Keith asked genuinely confused. Lance chuckled and shook his head.

“You have much to learn, why don’t I give you a proper lesson or something?” Lance stood up and stretched out his legs. Keith stood up as well he picked up the board.

“Would you?” He didn’t want to accept much more from Lance but the offer was too good.

“Of course I would. Why wouldn’t I?” Keith couldn’t think of a reason for why he would or wouldn’t. It wasn’t like them having sex seemingly affected him. “Hey, I’ll take these to our place wash it up. You return the board and meet me there?”

“Uh yeah, sounds good. But...”

“But what?” Keith looked down at the sand.

“Why did you make me waffles?” Keith hated how small he sounded.

“Well, I was making myself waffles. Then looked outside, saw you, and made another waffle. That’s all, see you soon.” Lance turned around and headed back towards their house. Keith felt a small smile on his lips, he cleared his throat burying the hopeful feeling and began walking to the meeting house.

After he had returned the surfboard he quickly headed home, he hated how quickly he walked back. Not sure what was pulling him faster to the house. When he entered he could hear the sound of running water. He entered and slowly guided himself to the kitchen. He watched as Lance hummed his way through dishes. He placed the last dish on the rack and turned around meeting Keith’s eye.

Keith wasn’t sure why he blushed when Lance looked directly at him. His eyes flickered to Lance’s hands slowly drying themselves. Lance put the dish towel down and slowly approached him. Keith was in the doorway but didn’t find himself moving. His heartfelt in his throat, his brain told himself to move out of Lance’s way but his body was stoic.

“Hey,” Lance said slowly, he smiled but it wasn’t uncomfortable, or even very flirty, it just made Keith feel strange and light headed.

“Hey, about...last night...” Keith didn’t know where his words were going, or when the room started feeling this way, or why he felt so exposed.

“What about it?” Lance quirked an eyebrow, he almost seemed amused but not taunting. Keith hid his hands behind his back fidgeting with his fingers rapidly. Keith didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what his body wanted anymore. He felt so confused, Shiro’s words were floating around in his head, and he couldn’t get the smell of waffles out of his nose.

“I’m...not sure.”

“Did you like it?” Lance hadn’t moved an inch closer to Keith, but Keith felt like they were already touching. The space between them was too hot.

“I dunno,” His said his words being carried on the whisp of his breath.

“Was it okay for you?” Lance asked he sounded the slightest bit concerned, Lance’s hand moved closer to him it hovered near his arm.

“Of course, it was fine I wanted it.” As soon as he said the words his mouth dried out, he had never been so direct. Not with any of the few people had been with. Lance made a small sound of pleased acknowledgment.

“Do you wa-” Keith stepped closer and kissed him. He couldn’t listen to Lance say those words, he was sure his ears would melt off, and his heart would beat too fast. He separated himself from Lance after what felt like an eternity of heat. He looked at Lance waiting for any distinction of disgust. Lance only aided him with a smile.

“You taste like strawberries.” He said after a second.

“And you...taste like blueberries?” Keith wasn’t sure if that was a smart or cute thing to say, but it made Lance smiled.

“Let me change that,” Lance whispered, setting Keith’s entire body ablaze. Lance slipped his hand around Keith’s waist and leaned in for a much deeper kiss. Keith closed his eyes his letting himself be guided by Lance’s lips. Maybe he wasn’t okay, but the heat felt nice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day at work.

Keith felt a warmth, he was enveloped entirely in the feeling. He smiled a bit not sure where he was, and in his morning grogginess, he didn’t care. He heard the murmurs of another human near his ear, his tired smile slowly was replaced by a yawn. He tried to adjust but felt trapped between arms.

“Wha...” He mumbled, he slowly opened his eyes. His eyes strained in the dim light of the room he was in. He touched the form in front of him, realizing he was lying against a chest. “No...” He prayed this wasn’t who he assumed it was.

“What time is it?” Lance asked Keith could feel the vibration of the voice on the top of his head. Lance’s chin was resting on top of Keith’s hair. Keith mumbled an answer and pulled away from him. He laid completely on his back, he covered his eyes with his forearm. He could feel the familiar ache, he hated that it wasn’t as sharp as the day before. His body was beginning to get accustomed to it. There was a shift in the bed next to him and Lance draped his arm over Keith’s stomach.

“So warm,” He mumbled, Lance’s fingers found the side of his Keith’s hips. Latching onto a spot of exposed skin. Keith felt a tingle radiating throughout his body and felt like melting into the very bed. Lance slowly tried to pull Keith closer to him, mumbling incoherent tired words. Keith bit his lip, he could just let this happen. It wasn’t like his body didn’t like Lance’s touches. Or didn’t appreciate his warmth, his smell, the hazy darkness of his room. It was so surreal, he could get used to it easily.

Keith sat up, forcing Lance’s arm to drop into his lap. He couldn’t allow himself to stay here, in this man's bed. He hadn’t come here for this, he wanted to feel normal. Right now Keith didn’t know what he felt.

He scooted off the bed and grabbed his fallen clothes off the ground. For a moment he brought his crumpled shirt near his privates. He realized the idiocracy, the only person who could have seen him naked in the house was falling back asleep behind him. Keith left Lance’s room and closed the door. He rubbed his face ready to yell at something or anyone.

“Shower, I need a shower.” He decided, he dropped his dirty clothes on the hallway floor and went inside the bathroom. Already naked, he got into the tub and closed the curtains.

He turned on the water and felt it as it slowly increased in heat. He turned the dial almost all the way to the end, he needed to feel the heat. He needed to feel like his skin was on fire so that he could ignore how confused he felt inside. He turned on the shower head and ducked his head, letting the angry hot droplets of water beat down on him.

As he stood there, the slight burning on his skin began to fade as the volume of his thoughts increased. His mind drifted back to the party. His brain was playing whack-a-mole with him. Every time he repressed the memory, moments with Lance would disrupt him. The heat he felt in his chest was rivaling the heat the water was causing. He put his fist to his chest and tried to stop the beating, he just wanted to feel normal in his own body.

“Keith, are you starting a sauna in here?” Lance yawned from the hallway. Keith blinked stepping out of his stupor. He quickly washed the rest of his body not answering Lance’s question. “And you can’t just leave your clothes on the ground!” Keith turned off the water when the last of the suds drifted off his body. He skin radiate heat, but he didn’t mind. “You didn’t even close the bathroom door!” Again Keith didn’t answer, but he hesitated, not yet wanting to open the shower curtains.

Lance stepped into the bathroom, Keith kept his back firmly against the shower wall. He tried to follow the sounds of Lance’s feet through the bathroom. “At least move the bathroom mat,” Lance mumbled he drifted something towards the shower but didn’t pull back the curtains. A blue towel was thrown over the side of the shower, hanging on the rod.

“Knock on my door when you’re out of the bathroom.” Keith could see Lance’s shadowy figure step away from the curtains. Keith slowly slipped the towel down and clutched it close to himself.

“Thank you.” He said in a hushed tone.

“You’re welcome,” Lance replied catching Keith off guard. He hadn’t expected him to actually hear. The bathroom door closed and Keith stepped out onto the bathroom mat. He slowly began drying himself with his towel.

*****

“Ready for the first day on the job!” Lance said with an overabundance of pep in his voice. Keith rolled his eyes and slowly followed behind him, up the steps, and to the meeting room. He wished Lance had told him the night before that they would have work in the morning. Maybe he wouldn’t have kept up with the routine that Lance and he had seemed to have fallen into.

“You’re always so grumpy in the morning,” Lance said putting a hand on the doorknob.

“And you’re rough at night, so we’re even.” Keith’s cheeks turned pink and he avoided looking at Lance who seemed unaffected.

“Who’s the one who keeps coming back?”

“Shut up,” Keith grumbled, Lance smirked and opened the door charging it.

“Lance and Keith have arrived, ready to start our first day back! The paladin lifeguards are back in actions. Wearing our signature colors blue, yellow, green, black, and now featuring r-”

“Lance it’s way too early for you to be this annoying. Eat some cereal so Shiro can brief us.” Pidge said, chewing aggressively on her cereal bar. Lance deflated but only slightly, he shrugged.

“I guess my positive attitude isn’t for everyone.” He pranced over to the kitchen and began rifling through the cupboards. Pidge rolled her eyes and looked at Keith.

“How on Earth can you room with that guy?” Keith shrugged and crossed his arms. When he thought about it, Lance was never nearly as bad as when it was just the two of them. Of course, they did share more of friends with benefits type relationship. But regardless, Lance never treated him differently.

“If you keep his mouth busy he can’t talk as much.” Lance looked over at them with a mischievous look in his eyes.

“I’d say that you keep your mouth pretty busy, and it just takes more of my interest than being annoying would take.” Lance turned back to food hunting. Keith wasn’t sure what he was getting at, it was very few times Keith ever did anything that interested Lance.

“He’s talking about sex Keith,” Hunk said from the other side of the room. He was polishing a large green board. Keith’s cheeks reddened, he had gotten used to Hunk being his Lance translator. But it didn’t make the translations any less mortifying. Lance burst out into laughter as Keith shot him a glare.

“Idiot.” Keith was too flustered to think of an actual response. Lance just laughed harder, Keith clenched his fists and turned away. He went to sit at his designated spot at the table. Shiro walked out from the hallway and towards the meeting table.

“Good morning guys, I hope you all got a good night's rest. Even though I know not all of you did.” Shiro looked pointedly at Keith for a short moment before sitting at the head of the table. Keith suppressed a blush, and subconsciously covered a section of his neck.

“Don’t know what you mean Shiro. I’ve been sleeping like a rock lately.” Lance smiled brightly at Shiro, only being returned with an amused look. He held two coffee cups and sat in the chair across from Keith’s. It was as far away from Keith as possible, but Keith still felt hyper-aware of Lance’s presence.

“Maybe it’s the extra heat, it gets pretty cold by the coast,” Pidge said aloofly. Lance smiled and shrugged, Keith avoided looking at the rest of the table. Even with the teasing being a constant since he arrived, it was still mortifying.

“Lance is lucky, I can never get my heater to go above 75.” Hunk smiled and took a long sip of his fruit smoothie mixture.

“I know right, I heard it was completely free too.” Pidge looked over at Lance and raised his eyebrow.

“Well, I’d be concerned if it wasn’t free.” Lance chuckled, he glided the coffee over to Keith. Keith stopped it from sliding off the table and looked over at him. He mumbled a small thank you and brought it to his lips. The coffee was a bit bitter, but it had enough sugar to make it bearable. He was surprised that Lance had consistently gotten his coffee preferences right.

“Well anyway,” Shiro said loudly capturing everyone's attention. “Looks like it’s going to be clear skies, high tide will be at 2 so be prepared for that. Pidge you’re going out to the boating line with me, make sure people are being safe around there.” Pidge smiled she already had her scuba suit on. It seemed to be her default outfit, that and her green one piece. “Hunk, you can stay at the medical bay slash missing kids area.” Hunk smiled and nodded, Keith could already see a decent sized medical kit by his foot. Lance had his fist balled tightly around his coffee cup. Keith heard the repetitive thumping of his foot against the hardwood. “Lance, you handle the 12 and over line. Keith, you can do the 12 and underline.” Lance groaned dramatically loudly and threw his head back.

“That’s so uncool!” Lance fired, Keith shrugged and sipped his coffee, he didn’t see any problem with his positions.

“I’m not going to make Keith deal with rowdy teenagers his first day on the job.”

“That’s blatant favoritism.” Lance protested.

“No, it’s called realism. Besides you’re a stronger swimmer.” Shiro said, Keith sat up straighter and scowled.

“No, he’s not. I’m the better the swimmer.” Shiro sighed and turned to Keith, making a show of it.

“I didn’t say anything about better, I said stronger. You’re a fast swimmer Keith, but you’re not as strong as Lance. You’re also the shortest male here, and a good push could take you under. You’re better off swimming little kids away from the swim line before they can start screaming about not touching the ground.”

“Yeah, Keith, one good push,” Lance said smugly, not nearly as distressed as he was before.

“I would not go down with one strong push. I am incredibly resilient, and wouldn’t stop until I saved whatever idiot who’s thinks it’s a good idea to drown!”

“I hardly think anyone thinks it’s a  _good_  idea to drown,” Pidge added, she was already pulling on her water shoes.

“Again, I said nothing about resilience. I have no doubt that you could be in the water for hours-”

“It’s just that I could be in the water for hours longer,” Lance added in, earning a warning look from Shiro.

“It’s just that you might not be strong enough to handle a grown adult flailing violently because they’re drowning. Now, stay safe all of you. Radio me if you need anything, come on let’s go Pidge.” Shiro stood up, not giving Keith an opportunity to argue back.

Pidge stood up and grabbed her marine bag off one of the hooks next to a surfboard. Keith fumed silently, he glared straight at Lance’s face. He waited until he heard the front door close before speaking to him.

“I will be doing the 12 and over line, don’t argue with me. Let’s go.” Keith stood up and flattened down the curling ends of his lifeguard shirt.

“Fine, a strong swimmer like me doesn’t need to prove it.” Keith could hear the smirk in Lance’s voice.

“Let’s just head to work.” Hunk picked up his medical bag and headed to the door of the meeting room. Lance began walking to follow him, Keith walked faster beating him to the door. Lance glanced over at him with his eyebrow raised, Keith looked away.

Hunk opened the door, and Keith sped walked out. Lance was right next to him his hands moving aggressively side to side.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked he could only see Lance from his peripheral.

“I’m just going to work, same as you.”

“Why are you walking so fast?” Keith asked he increased his speed trying to stay a step ahead of him. Lance extended his long legs and kept pace.

“Why are  _you_  walking so fast?”

“I’m trying to get to work on time.” Keith glanced at their feet everytime he thought Lance was a step ahead of him he’d increase his speed. Which in turn made Lance increase his speed, never the same amount. Always slightly faster than Keith.

“Then why the hell are you jogging?” Lance asked, his breathing came out slower like he was trying to manage it for a run.

“I’m not jogging I just don’t want to walk next to you.” Lance increased his speed so that he was half a foot ahead. Keith broke into a jog to keep ahead of him. “I don't want to follow you either!”

“Well, I don’t want to follow you!” Lance was the first to break out into an all-out run, catching Keith by surprise. “Look who’s following who!” Lance yelled. Keith narrowed his eyes and ran as well. He was naturally faster than Lance and easily got up. He looked at Lance as he passed him and stuck his tongue out before gaining another burst of speed and racing to his lifeguard chair.

He nearly crashed into the tall white chair before he got himself to stop. His hands pressed against the solid structure and he let out a small laugh, the energy inside of him bubbling up. He looked behind him at Lance who was panting as he made his way to his own chair. He leaned against it for a moment, catching his breath.

“T-That didn’t count.” Lance painted out, he stretched and took a deep gulp of air then let it go.

“What do you mean it didn’t count? I was clearly ahead of you, that means you were following me.”

“But! You were so far ahead, that it wasn’t following. I was just running behind you at a moderately close distance.” Keith narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the information. He didn’t have any defense against it, or for the notion.

“That’s bullshit, and I won.” He climbed on is lifeguard post and crossed his arm.

“I’ll let you think that.” Lance took a pair of sunglasses on his face and sat in his own lifeguard chair. Keith glanced over his arms crossed.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses? It’s not that bright yet.”

“It’s all about the aesthetic Keith, all about the aesthetic.” He smiled ahead of him, Keith rolled his eyes and looked behind them. He could see the first wave of people making their way over. He took a deep breath and braced himself.

*****

It was around 5 and Keith was positive he had yelled more than he had ever done in the past month. His legs also began to burn with the constant up and down of climbing off and on the chair. He didn’t know what it was, he felt like no one was listening to him.

“Hey, away from the line!” Keith yelled for the fifth time to the same group of kids. Again they ignored him, so again he climbed off from atop his chair and began heading towards the water. He got ankle deep before the group of kids dispersed from the line, swimming away in a fit of giggles. He sighed and turned back from the water, each time he had to get a little farther into the water before they dared to leave.

Once back to the safety of his chair he leaned his back against it. He doubted the group of people was nearly the amount that they usually got, but it was only the first day back. His head drifted to the side watching Lance complete his duties. The 12 and underside was so easy that Lance had spent almost the entire day flirting with teenage girls.

Keith envied him, not because of the girls but most of the 12 and underside came with their own personal lifeguards. Moms and dads with their little kids never breaching past thigh-deep waters.

The group of girls currently by Lance was laughing especially loud. Keith glared, imagining how hard it’d be to get sand in their underwear. He swore to himself that he wasn’t jealous, they were just disturbing the peace. Lance turned his head forward again.

The five little shits were back at the line one even dear to stick his arm over the line. Keith balled his fists, and let out a heated breath. He thought of every jab and insult he could throw at the pre-pubescent preteens and packed it tightly away in a hate-filled box inside his mind. He was fed up, finished.

He turned to Lance and began marching forward. He pushed between the small group of girls crowding him, ignoring their insulted yelps.

“Lance I fucking hate you, I’m done. I’m not dealing with that side, now or ever again. Deal with it, or I’ll start drowning people.” Keith seethed, he hoped that Lance could feel the anger fueled heat in his chest. Lance slipped off his sunglasses and raised one of his hands up in his defense.

“Calm down, you’re just being too nice.” Keith gave him a skeptical look. “No seriously, on the 12 and upside, you’ve got to play bad cop. Sunglasses, yelling and threatening to throw them out of the beach. Which is especially effective for kids without parents with them. Which I’m positive is the case with your gang of pre-teens. Here take my sunglasses.” He took them off completely and offered them to Keith.

“I don’t need them, and I don’t need...” He glanced back over at the group of kids still taunting them. He wanted nothing more but to scare the shit out of them. He took the sunglasses and clutched them in his hand. He still glared at Lance and poked a finger in the middle of his chest. “Stop flirting on the job before a kindergartener drowns.”

“Oh? So you don’t like me flirting unless it's with you?” Lance smirked and tried holding Keith’s hand. Keith quickly retracted and crossed his arms. “Don’t be jealous, I spend all night with yo-”

“Shut up, shut up. I hope I never see you again.” Keith turned around his face a dark red.

“I didn’t know you were gay, I really wanted to give you my number.” One of the girls whined.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m bisexual. So guys and gals are my forte.” Lance said with a voice sickeningly smooth.

“Yay! That’s super progressive and totally hot. Hey, my friend goes to this cafe and I’m pretty sure there’s a rainbow flag. We should  _totally_  go together.” Another one of the girls quickly added. Keith quickly sped away, he had plenty of bad cop feelings to throw at the kids.

He slipped on the glasses and marched into the water. He didn’t stop going in, not even when the group dispersed. Swimmers cleared a path for him, avoiding getting in between him. He scanned and chose his target, one of the kids who was wearing Rick and Morty swimming shorts.

“Hey, I’ve told you all damn day to stay away from the line. I’ve given you more warnings than you can properly count.” He had corned the kid and was holding him by the shoulder. He couldn’t be more than 13, whatever vibe Keith was sending, it had the kid shaking. “So now, I’m giving you and your chump friends one last warning. If I see any of you,  _anywhere_ near that line. I’ll personally kick you so far off this beach you won’t even be able to see it. And I will blacklist  _all_  of you.”

“B-Blacklist?” The kid whimpered, Keith smirked.

“It means you’ll never be able to come to this beach, or any other beach in this area again. It goes on your permanent record, and the police will have to get involved. If they’re in a bad mood they’ll put a tracker on you. So I’ll say it again. Don’t touch that freaking line.” He let the kid go and turned around, heading back to the chair. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the kid, in case he decided to lose control of his bladder.

Before climbing his chair he glanced towards Lance, almost smiling with his triumph. Lance was talking to another girl again, she had white hair and tan skin. She was always the one he talked to the most and talked about the most. Keith had never even spoken to her.

“She’s probably a complete bitch.” He mumbled, he brought his knees up in his white chair. Not caring if he looked at less intimidating. He’d just drown the next person who ticked him off, even if that was Lance.

*****

Keith took a deep breath, he didn’t attempt to stand on the board just yet. He wanted to wait until he was completely relaxed before he raised his blood pressure in an attempt to surf. He was straddled on the red board again, not caring if it wasn’t a beginners board or not. He swirled his legs in the water, it wasn’t completely dark yet but it was getting there.

He knew Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk were all at the meeting house. Probably talking, and sharing stories. He knew they liked to have dinners up there. He hadn’t seen Lance, he figured he had gone out with one of the hundred girls that seemed to love to flock to his side.

He sighed and leaned over the side of the board catching sight of his reflection. He looked stressed and sad, he glared at it and splashed it with the palm of his hand.

“Not gonna stop, not gonna stop ‘till I get my shot!” A voice yelled from the shore. Keith frowned and turned looking right at a smiling Keith.

“What?” Keith spun the board so he was facing Lance. Lance had a wide smile on his face.

“That’s who I am! That is my plan, will I end up on top? You can, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on me!” Lance sounded like he was having trouble singing through his laughter.

“What are you doing Lance?”

“Come on, Bet on it? High School Musical 2? Troy Bolton, AKA my sexual awakening?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lance groaned loudly.

“Okay okay, maybe you repressed it because Troy Bolton was also your first man crush. I will gladly reenact it just for you.” He cleared his throat, and Keith watched in horror as Lance began singing the entire song. Nothing clicked in his mind, but when Lance slapped the water and began prancing around on sure he nearly fell off his surfboard.

It was impossible not to laugh at him, impossible not to smile. Lance must have known at some point that he looked like a total idiot, but he smiled regardless. When Lance began clapping and yelling the lyrics Keith had to look away before he fell off his own board.

Lance ended the song by slow-motion running towards Keith through the water. He had to occasionally stop the song to catch his breath, but he sang the final line with his hand on Keith’s arm.

“Ring any bells?” He panted, Keith bit his lip and shook his head.

“No, but I’ll remember this in my nightmares.” Lance shrugged and took his hand off.

“At least I accomplished something.” He smiled and patted Keith’s board.

“What are you doing out here? Besides sitting and staring angstily on a red surfboard?”

“I was just trying to calm down before I started surfing. Today really stressed me out.” He admitted, he looked away from Lance and swung his feet in the water.

“Sorry for letting you take the harder position, but you actually did pretty well. Had a good control of things and was decently polite to the people who asked you questions.” Keith shrugged, he doubted Lance had seen anything surrounded by a ring of girls. “And you looked totally hot sitting there with my sunglasses.” Keith blushed and snuck a look at him. Lance poked a finger on a part of Keith’s neck. “Especially with that hickey, left there by a certain bisexual gentleman.”

“You’re far from a gentleman,” Keith mumbled and pushed his hand away. Lance scoffed like he had been scandalized.

“Well, would a gentleman be giving you surfing lessons right now?”

“He would, good thing you aren’t giving me anyway. “ Keith mumbled, he flashed Lance a look.

“Did you know you’re cute when you do that thing with your eyes?”

“What thing?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lance smiled and patted the surface of the board.

“First get on your stomach, I’m going to show you how to get on the board and stand. After you learn how to stand I’ll push you around for awhile so you can balance. After that, we’re going to our house and watching all 3 of the High School Musical movies. Twice,”

“Why twice?”

“The first time is for story purposes, the second time is so that we can sing the songs you recognize.”

“I don’t sing,” Keith said definitely, Lance looked unamused.

“And Chad didn’t dance, but look at him by the end of High School Musical 2.”

“Did...he end up dancing?”

“Yes, you’re amazing at predictions. Now I predict that you’ll at least get soaring and flying stuck in your head. If we end up singing it together, I call Troy’s part.” Keith felt liked Lance was speaking in code. He wished Hunk was there to translate.

“Um okay, but I don’t sing.”

“I know you can!” Lance sang, Keith had never heard the song but it sounded offkey to him.

“Stop singing, I’m not getting your references.”

“Soon you will! But first get on your stomach, if you want to ride the fastest board we have then you need to know how to balance.”

“Do you really think I can ride this board?” Keith asked suddenly, he felt the top. It was sleek and newly polished.

“I never said I thought you could. I just know that it’s either I teach you, or I have to use my strong swimming abilities to keep you from drowning. Either way, I’m a part of this experience. So I might as well be proactive.” Lance put both hands on his hip and raised his eyebrow to Keith. “Now how many times do I have to say get on your stomach? You always get on your back so much faster.” He grinned wickedly, Keith blushed and flicked his forehead.

“Shut up,” He grumbled and brought his legs out of the water laying on his back.

“Sorry, now within my programming. Also, waffles sound good for dinner?” Keith thought for a moment, waffles, musicals, and Lance. It didn’t sound as bad as he made it out to be.

“Yeah, they’re fine.” He brought his legs out of the water and looked at Lance. He hated how cute he looked, especially with his damp hair and stupid grin.

“Ready?” Keith nodded, he braced himself and Lance pushed him forward. 


	4. Chapter 4

“So, you’re telling me the reason why Bucky remembered that stuff about Steve is because they’re in love?” Keith asked, he was given a conformation head nod from Lance. 

 “Yeah, I mean best friendship can only go so far. He has obviously been in love with Steve this entire time.”

Keith frowned and pulled his blanket tighter around himself. “Well that’s sad now...that means even if they were in love they couldn’t be together because of the time period.” He rubbed his messy hair, trying to wrap his mind around the fact.

“Exactly! Now, do you feel my pain?” Lance threw his hands up, the thick comforter once wrapped around him flew up as well. If Keith hadn’t been thinking about Stucky, he might have admired how radiant Lance looked in the morning light.

“I really wish I didn’t.” He rubbed his eyes and turned off the TV stuck on the Netflix homepage. “And I  _really_  wish it wasn’t almost time for us to go to work.” He yawned and shivered a bit, he pulled the blanket tighter around himself. He had just been wearing shorts and one of Lance’s sweatshirts.

“Eh, whatever. It’s not like we haven’t gone sleepless days before.”

“Yeah but my reason was never because I was watching movies all night. I was usually studying,” Keith’s mind knew he had to move but the blankets felt too warm. Lance’s body heat also helped, he was leant up against Keith. His head hovering close to Keith’s shoulder but never resting there. “I feel like you’ve ruined my sleep schedule.”

“Hey, we get sleep,” Lance said defensively. He pulled the comforter back on his body and yawned.

“No, we got back from work, did stuff, had dinner,  _did_  stuff, and I passed out at some point.” Keith gave Lance a pointed look, he smirked a bit and avoided his gaze. “We both woke up around 2, you suggested a morning snack. Then you asked me if I wanted to have my heart ripped out. And here we are now.”

“That sounds like a pretty familiar schedule.”

“Yeah, because all we’ve done is variations of that for like the past few days. I need rest, Lance.”

“Take a nap after work today, or during. Doesn’t matter, it’s a Wednesday it’ll be slow.” Lance closed his eyes and smiled wistfully. “But to be honest, I don’t mind this at all. I rather be sleep deprived than deal with the Keith death look.”

Keith raised his eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, every time after we do it most times you fall asleep. And it’s cute because you curl up, and you look so precious and soft.”

“And then...”

Lance took the opportunity to rest his head on Keith’s shoulder. Avoiding his eye contact and getting more comfortable. “And then you wake up, and if I so much as look at you before you take a shower you look like you’ll claw my eyes out. The first few times I thought it was a race thing, but then we continued and I figured it’s not. Right?”

“No, it’s not a race thing.” Keith scoffed, he took a deep breath and brought his knees closer to his chest. He knew he didn’t exactly look happy in the morning, but he didn’t think it classified as a death look.

“Phew, crossing that one off the list. Then I thought you just weren’t a morning person. But after proper inspection, I can confirm you just look extra pissed waking up in bed with me.”

“You sound like a scientist. I’m not that hard to figure out.”

Lance scoffed, “You completely are! I even began wondering maybe these are your first experiences having sex and that’s why you hated me.”

“And?”

Lance chuckled a bit under his breath. “Well, we both figured that wasn’t true.” Keith blushed but said nothing. “So what is it? Why do you hate waking up with me?”

Keith pondered it for a moment, he didn't exactly have a clear answer. He figured Lance wouldn’t care to hear about his shitty experiences, or about his internalized issues. “It’s just awkward.” Keith simplified. It didn’t seem like the answer Lance was looking for, but nothing else was said.

The chiming sound of his ringtone began calling out. Keith looked behind him, he knew he left his cell phone n the kitchen. Kitchen meant that’d he’d need to walk to get it.

“Fuck me,” Keith grumbled and moved to stand up, keeping the blanket firmly around himself. He knew it wasn’t his, it smelt too much like Lance. At that point, he welcomed the smell.

“I do, it’s great,” Lance said casually, he had moved his hands behind his back.

“Shut up!” Keith was blushing a deep red, he turned away and walked to the kitchen. Lance’s snickers in the background.

He picked up his cellphone from the table and answered it without checking the caller ID. “Hello? Keith Kogane speaking.”

“Keith,” One word and Keith’s heartbeat had slowed, he stiffened and stood taller. Like the man on the phone was already in the room with him.

“Yes father,” He said formally, even as he said it the words felt hollow.

“You haven’t called as much as I’d like.”

“Sorry, I’ve been busy with work.”

“So you’re really going to do it? You’re choosing the unstable life of that crap beach town?”

“Father, it’ll be better for m-”

“I know a thousand of little snot nosed kids like you who would have killed to have your position. Adoptive parents willing to pay for an ivy league college?”

“I’m sorry, but it really wasn’t for me. I didn’t want you to waste money on me going there. Especially, when I can go to school here and be something I enjoy.”

“I hope you enjoy being homeless, because that’s all I can see for you. For awhile your mother and I thought you would be a jailbird. I heard they particularly favor homosexuals in the prisons. They struggle less,”

Keith’s entire body shook he felt like he was going to be sick. “You know I didn’t do anything, I-I just couldn’t handle going in front of a court. I made my statement,”

“Yes, yes whatever. You missed his funeral,”

“I know.” Keith was clutching the phone too hard, the corner of it was digging into his skin.

“His family talked very distastefully of you.”

“I figured they would,” He knew there’d be no point in attending, he’d most likely have been shooed away.

“They think it’s your fault, and I think so too. I hope you know that if you stuck in your lane, and did what we asked of you he’d still be here. Oh, did you see what I did there?  _Lane_.”

Keith screamed that he hated him a million times over in his head. “I’ll be late for work. I’ll inform you if I make it into the college, and will try to do a better job of communicating.” He hung up the phone before his adoptive father could continue any longer.

“Ah, was that your daddy-o?” Lance asked Keith hadn’t noticed that he was hovering in the doorway. Something about Lance made his entire body feel tight. Keith shot Lance a look and turned away from him.

“I’m taking a shower, go in after me. I’ll head to work  _alone_  when I’m done..” Keith set the blanket he once wore on top of their little dining room table.

“Oh, okay.” Keith heard Lance say quietly. Keith closed the bathroom door and stripped, turning the water on and letting it run until it reached the perfect temperature. Near boiling.

*****

Keith had both of his feet up to his chest as he sat on the Lifeguards chair. There was only a small group of teenagers in the water, and so far they had been respectful. He only wished that they had been rowdier, then he would have found it easier to stay awake.

“Hey! You really zoomed out of there huh? I cut my shower time in half to meet up with you.” Keith turned to see Lance approaching his chair, coming from the meeting house direction. Keith shrugged and pulled down sunglasses over his eyes.

“We were already late, so I got what I needed to do and left.”

“Why don’t you take the 12 and underside today, usually on the calm days you’ll get teenagers who somehow dragged themselves up in the morning, young mothers and fathers with kids, or grandparents with kids, and then really old people who just like sitting in the water.” Lance leaned up against the chair Keith was sitting in and looked up at him expectantly.

Keith mulled it over for a second, he had been alternating between the 12 and under section, and the 12 and over section for a couple days but he always prefered the latter. “Fine,” He climbed down from the chair and walked towards the other lifeguard chair.

“Hey,” Lance grabbed him by the wrist, Keith stopped walking and turned to look at him. He was surprised how sympathetic Lance looked. “Are you okay? I don’t want to get in your business but the guy on the other end of that phone sounded like douche.”

Keith was silent for a moment, the care caught him off guard. He expected it from Shiro but not so much the other lifeguards. “That douche is my fos-father, and I’m fine. Thanks.” He pulled his arm away and went to the second lifeguard chair. Happy that he had the sunglasses to cover his face.

The morning went by painfully slow. Lance had been right to assume that only a few families with some kids would show up. He had begun counting the number of sailboats when he heard a commotion from the other side of the beach.

“Come to me seagulls, accept my offering!” Lance yelled into the sky. Keith could only see a potion of him so he climbed down from the lifeguard post and side stepped until he could get a proper view.

Lance had made a large heart in the sand that had Keith’s name in the middle of it, spelled out in driftwood. Lance had scattered pieces of leftover food in various places around the heart. He was standing in the center of it like an idiot his hands raised as an army of Seagulls began flying towards him.

“Lance! Are you insane?” Keith yelled, trying to carry his voice over the caws of the seagulls.

“Sorta!” He yelped as he narrowly avoided a seagull collision. He laughed as he was swarmed. Keith bit back a smile as Lance danced around the seagulls fighting over pieces of leftover food. “I am the seagull king!” He announced.

Around them, a few of the children that were there began to giggle. Lance even earned a few smiles from the parents and teenagers there.

“Lance get away from there before they peck your eyes out!” Keith yelled, he wasn’t afraid of the seagulls but he was always wary of them.

“Chill out, they are accepting my of-” Lance made a sound of surprise as a seagull pulled on his pant leg. “Woah there buddy,” He moved to the side and more seagulls tried following them. “Uh, Keith!”

Keith resisted laughing, he could feel Lance’s panic but watching him dance away from seagulls washed away the urgency. “Try running through them!”

“Okay!” He began running around the heart, hoping to disrupt the birds. A few of them move out of the way, but more became interested in his shorts. “It’s not working!” The cawing of the birds became louder.

“Run into the water!” Keith called hoping the snicker in his voice wasn’t too obvious.

“Ah!” Lance yelled, he sounded well panicked. He leaped over Keith’s wooden name and straight for the sea. He graciously ran into a spot away from the group of teenagers still swimming. The seagulls were tenacious and flew to try and keep up with him. Lance frantically dove under water.

Keith ran down the shore line to the spot where Lance ran into. The seagulls in that area hovered around the spot cawing. “Lance do you have food on you?” Keith yelled, he had walked ankle deep into the water.

He had to wait for a moment before Lance’s head surfaced. Only his eyes, hair, and nose were visible. He looked up anxiously at the hovering birds. “Uh no, but I might smell like brownies.”

“Brownies?”

“Yeah, Hunk baked some. He told me to offer you some but...I ate them all...” He ducked his head under water again as the seagull tried to swoop in for him.

“Maybe I’m not so inclined to save you now.” Keith crossed his arms and waited for a reply. Bubbles floated to the top, from where Lance dove under. “What?”

There was a small splash and Lance surfaced his entire head. “I’m so sorry, I’ll take you out today and buy you all the brownies you want if you save me!” He dove his under water again, some of the seagulls had decided to land in the water.

“Fine, but they better be amazing!” Keith yelled, unsure if Lance could even hear him underwater. He waded in the water, he took his shirt off and threw it far up the shore.

“Sea salt and caramel!” Lance yelled just his mouth above water before ducking back down.

Keith smiled a bit, and dove into the water. He began to swim as loudly and as obnoxious as he could. He figured he had about a 3 foot splash distance with the way he flailed his arms. He knew he probably looked like an idiot to the ten people who were still at the beach, but sea salt caramel brownies sounded too good to pass up. And saving Lance would have been a friendly perk.

The seagulls began cawing and flying away in danger of getting splashed. Keith looked up at the still hovering birds in the sky. He took a deep breath and let himself sink to the very bottom of the shallow end. He turned his head under water and could see Lance in a ball holding his breath close to the top of the waters edge. He squatted at the bottom and pushed himself up.

His body shot through the water like a rocket. He extended his arms and as soon as his hands broke water he created the biggest splash he could. A small wave was created just by him and splashed through to the shore, and all the seagulls attacking Lance swam away.

Lance’s head popped above water and he took deep gasps of air “Are they gone? Did we do it?”

“ _We_  did nothing, I just saved you from seagulls,” Keith said, a bit of pride in his voice. There was clapping from the shore line. Keith’s eyes widened and he turned to look at the onlookers. It was Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, and the white-haired girl he had seen around the beach.

“Wonderful save, now bring him back in to complete the rescue,” Shiro said, despite the humor in the situation, still looked proud.

“Wasn’t much of a rescue...” Keith mumbled, he doubted anyone had heard him.

“Nah, it was awesome. Come on take me back.” Lance put his own arm around Keith’s neck and stuck his tongue out like he was exhausted. Keith blushed but began to swim Lance back.

He sort of understood what Shiro meant, even with Lance just acting like dead weight he was heavy to pull in the water. The cheering didn’t stop and only increased when Keith finally dragged Lance to shore.

As soon as Keith felt land under his feet, he dropped Lance to the ground and stretched his back. “You weigh a brick wall.” He grumbled, Lance made a small yelping sound as he fell to ground.

“Way to drop the victim.” Lance brought himself up and stretched his own back. Shiro stepped forward and pat Keith firmly on the back.

“Nice save, your first one in fact.” He smiled like he was Keith’s older brother, it made Keith feel vaguely uncomfortable but strangely happy.

“Leave it to Lance to take all your firsts,” Pidge said with a shake of her head. Keith blushed, he almost corrected her but figured it would be even more embarrassing to explain.

“Well, I had to make his first save special,” Lance said as he wiped the sand off of his body.

“Like you planned getting attacked by seagulls.” Hunk mumbled, he rolled his eyes but still seemed amused.

“I work in mysterious ways.” Lance shrugged casually.

“Oh look at you poor dear, you’ve gotten your shirt wet.” The white-haired girl said, she moved closer to Lance and inspected his clothing. He visibly straightened his back and gave her a charming smile.

“Ah, it’s nothing Allurah. It was either a wet shirt or a missing eye.” Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes, he looked away.

“Oh! Forgive me for not introducing myself to you, I’m Allurah. My father owns this beach.” It took Keith second to realize she was talking to him. He turned towards her his arms crossed.

“Keith.” He paused realizing he had to elaborate. “Is my name. I just work here.” He mumbled, she smiled politely and extended her hand towards him. It took another moment before he took it and quickly shook it before letting go.

“Awkward...” Hunk said from behind Shiro. Keith shot him a look and turned away again from Allurah.

“Well!” Alura clapped her hand together and smiled enthusiastically. “I should really go meet up with Coran, we are going on the boat and doing dives.”

“Ooh, are you going to the reefs?” Pidge said excitedly, her diving suit already on. Allurah smiled and nodded.

“Of course we are, and you all are welcome to join us. Even you Keith. If you work on my father's beach there is no reason why we can’t be friends.” Keith hated how polite she was being, he had every intention to hate her guts.

“No thank you,” Keith replied, he didn’t owe her an explanation so he didn’t give her one.

“I’m in,” Hunk said casually, he still had his medical kit to his side.

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss a diving trip for the world.” Pidge moved so that she was standing close to Allurah. She linked arms with Allurah and looked ready to take on the sea.

“I might have to pass, I need to get the merchandising situation in order. I guess the local gift shops put our sweatshirts on backorder.” Shiro said he shook his head like he was imagining all the mildly harsh things he’d say to the company.

“Oh that’s too bad, next time for sure okay?” She smiled and looked to Lance. “I can always count on you to come, right?” Keith nearly rolled his eyes into the back of his head. He turned getting ready to walk back to his station.

“Sorry I can’t, I’ve got a brownie date with Keith after work.” Keith stopped walking and felt all five pairs of eyes staring at the back of his head. Keith blushed and slowly turned around.

“Oh...well have fun. I’m sure you’re taking him to Linda’s bakery.” Lance scoffed at Allurah and waved his hand.

“Where else would I take him? I was thinking I’d show him around town a bit too,” Lance made eye contact with Keith as he said the last parts.

“Have him back at a godly our, we’re going to have a campfire tonight,” Hunk said, he almost sounded like a parent.

“Oh shit, yeah almost forgot.” Lance looked at Keith somehow sensing his confusion. “With every save, we have a campfire, indoor or outdoor. But it’s not as cold out today, so I vote outdoor.” There was a general consensus of outdoor, but they still looked to Keith.

Keith shrugged, uncomfortable with all the attention he looked away from them. “Yeah, outdoor is fine.” They cheered again more ironically this time.

“Well, have fun with the rest of your shifts. I hope you have fun on your date.” Shiro rubbed the top of Keith’s head, making him shy away. “Bring him home safe Lance.” Shiro hummed and walked back the way he came.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Hunk snickered and pat Lance’s shoulder before following Shiro out.

“PDA is gross FYI, so I would suggest no public nudity.” Pidge winked and dragged Allurah away.

“Have fun!” Allurah said before she was completely out of their view.

Keith and Lance were left alone awkwardly looking at each other. Keith clasped his hands together, and Lance smiled awkwardly.

“Did you mind me calling it a date?” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged and nudged his foot in the sand. “It depends...”

“On what?”

“Is it?” Keith glanced up briefly at Lance, in time to see his widening smile.

“Well yeah, it is,” Lance said more confidently.

“Then, I’m not mad. But I’m changing before we leave.” Keith turned around to walk back to his chair.

“Mind if I walk you back to the house after work?” Lance called after him.

“I’ll think about it,” Keith said over his shoulder, his cheeks were flushed, his heart was beating too fast, but there was a small smile on his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry next chapter will pick up right where this one ended, no time skips! I just didn't want this chapter to get too long for you guys. I hope you all still enjoy this.


	5. Chapter 5

Keith slipped his hands into his pocket as he walked. He knew that once he turned the corner he’d see Lance waiting for him by the stone wall that outlined the beach. A part of him felt strong nausea that came with him as he walked. He closed his eyes as he walked the corner.

“Hey, took you forever. I thought I was going to be the late one.” Keith heard Lance’s voice and opened his eyes. Lance was dressed, out of his lifeguard uniform and into more comfortable shorts and a button up anchor shirt.

“Sorry,” Keith mumbled, he didn’t want to admit that he had spent 10 minutes panicking over shirt styles.

“Nah it’s okay,” Lance stood up and looked up at the sky. “Perfect timing though. By the time we get back, it should be perfect campfire night.” He gestured for Keith to come closer to him. “Are you coming?”

“Uh yeah,” Keith walked closer so that he was standing next to him. He looked slightly in awe as Lance smiled at him.

“You look less pale than when you first came. Nice healthy California glow.” Keith looked at his arm not noticing much of a color difference, but blushing at the compliment all the same.

“Thanks, you look...” He trailed off making Lance chuckle lightly. He pressed his arms against Keith’s.

“I’ve got you beat,” They both smiled and Keith moved his hand away.

“Only by a few shades.”

“Yeah barely can tell the difference. It’s like your egg whites and I’m eggshells.” Lance moved his arm back to his body. “Brown egg shells that is.” He laughed at his own joke and Keith smiled with him.

“So, are we going to that bakery you said?” He’d have preferred if Allurah hadn’t suggested it as well but he would take what he could get.

“We’ll go to that last. I want us to walk so you can see all the little beach shops. Then the last place we can head to is Linda’s Bakery. The baked goods are so big there, that it’d take you the entire walk back to finish.”

“Oh, well you’re the guide. So it’s your executive decision.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “Well, we better start walking.” Lance began walking forward, Keith walked closely next to him. Soon becoming aware of how many people there were exiting the beach. Lance guided them behind and next to cars until they reached the sidewalk area.

“There are people everywhere,” Lance sighed he pressed his arm near Keith’s. He tilted his head to the side of him. “Can I hold your hand?” Lance asked Keith blinked caught off guard.

“Er why?” Keith slipped his hands out of his pocket, feeling them tingle for a moment.

“I don’t want to lose you. I should have figured that it would be busiest just after the beach closed. Keith managed a small okay and watched as Lance took Keith’s hand in his own.

Keith blushed but didn’t let go, he stared straight ahead letting Lance fully guide him. It bothered him to think that he wouldn’t get away with doing that in Maine. Keith kept his body close to Lance, figuring it’d be harder to bump two people closely together rather than just one guy.

The sidewalks of the town where pretty large, leaving a lot of the roads one way. There was the repetitive sound of flip flops and sandals slapping sand covered paved roads and walkways.

“Won’t the center of the town be even busier?” Keith asked Lance didn’t turn to look at him. It seemed like he hadn’t heard Keith. Keith didn’t fault him, it felt like all sound was trapped in an endless cloud of noise. It was an accumulation of noisy children, people talking on phones, and cars trying to maneuver around beachgoers. Keith decided that it was better to just go with the following, and follow Lance.

They walked through the crowd, and soon it felt like it was behind them. The area that they arrived in had small shops squished right next to each other on either side of the street. Keith looked at Lance who had a wide smile on his face, he seemed to be in his element.

Keith took the time to finally get a true look around the town since he had arrived. He loved the soft washed away colors of the buildings, and how almost every available rooftop had some sort of bird sitting on top of it. There were even a few older store owners sweeping sand out of their stores. It made Keith smile and unconsciously squeeze Lance’s hand.

“Hey, let’s stop in here,” Lance said suddenly, breaking the silence between them. Before Keith could respond Lance dodged them into an open store building. They stood at the front of the door soaking in the area.

It was pretty easy to tell that it was a surfboard shop. There were lines of them on the walls and a few lying horizontally above head. The few shelves in the center of the store were filled with various board cleaners and a few inflatable laugh vests.

“Easy to tell you’re aboard nerd.” Lance shrugged, he guided him to one of the walls. “You like the fast ones right?”

Keith nodded dumbly, he reached out and let his fingers lightly glide across the surface of the boards. The board itself was sleek and not colored. There was no doubt that it would cut through the water.

“Interested in buying a board?” An older looking man asked. Keith turned to face him. The man was permanently tanned from the sun and looked like he had smile lines permanently etched on his face. His eyebrows were bushy and raised, making him look always questioning.

“No-”

“We were looking for one.” Lance cut in, he let go of Keith’s hand.

“I have one.” Keith crossed his arms loosely and looked at Lance.

“You’re borrowing it, it’s way too big for you, and it’s not even a beginners board.”

“Any board can be a beginners board if it’s the board a beginner begins with.” The man chuckled and stepped in front of him putting his hand on the surface of the surfboard that Keith was looking at.

“Yeah well, this board is easily the same weight as Keith. It might even be heavier. It’s way too thick for someone with his size to control, and he’s way too inexperienced to learn with it.” Lance laid out simply.

Keith gave a Lance a dirty look and turned back to the owner. “I’m learning, but I’m fine.”

“Maybe your friend, boyfriend? Is right, I’d trust Lance, he knows a thing or two about boards. You’ll learn on that big board you got, but you’ll learn a heck of a lot faster on one that’s more your speed.”

Keith bit the very corner of his lip, his eyes drifting towards the rack he was right next to. “Then what should I do?”

“Well, gimme your height and weight. And what you like on a board and for a fair price I’ll whip something nice for you.” Keith thought for a moment, his thumb rubbing small circles into the skin of his arm.

“I’ll fill it out, and leave my number if that’s okay. If you can estimate a price for me, then I’ll see if I can afford it.” Keith said slowly, being surprisingly polite. The shop owner nodded and reached on top of one of the shelves. There was a clipboard with a paper on top of it. He handed it over and patted Keith on the shoulder.

“Why don’t you look around some more, see things you like add it in.”

“I will thank you,” Keith took the pen from the clipboard and clicked the top of his pen.

“I’m sure if you flash Lance a cute enough smile, he might help pay for the board.” The older man elbowed Keith’s side and laughed loudly. Keith flashed an uncomfortable smile and waited until he was fully turned around and had walked away before speaking to Lance.

“Does he think you’re my boyfriend?”

“No, he thinks I’m your sugar daddy,” Lance said, a smile creeping up the side of his face. Keith’s face turned a new shade of red as he looked away from Keith.

“I doubt, you have enough money to be my sugar...whatever. But  _I_  will be paying for my board.” He had ogled enough boards to know what he wanted in one. He began filling the question sheet as he walked behind Lance.

“Hey, look at this one.” Lance pointed to a large surfboard that was painted to look like a tiki head. Its mouth was open and angry. “Take a picture of this.” He pressed the top of his head to the board and pretended to look scared.

Keith bit back a smile and silently complied. He switched to the camera on his phone and trained it on Lance. For dramatic effect, Lance slapped his hand on either side of his cheek.

“You look incredibly fake,” Keith mumbled, he switched to gallery and showed Lance the picture of himself. Lance smiled proudly of himself and stood up straight. He leaned an arm against the board.

“Real enough to me, send that to me.” Lance crossed his leg over the other as he stood. He took a good look around the area. “Mr. Whiteson is a pretty chill guy, he might give you a discount if he thinks we’re together.”

“Really?” Keith had only seen that happen on screen, he couldn’t actually imagine having a close enough bond with a store owner to get discounts for things.

“Yeah, but we would  _never_  abuse the harmless confusion of an older man to get an expensive board for a cheaper price.”

Keith frowned, he didn’t want to betray the trust of Mr. Whiteman. Especially if he was Lance’s friend, not his. “You’re right, maybe I’ll put it somewhere at the top of the paper. Specify that we’re not dating.”

“No no don’t doofus.” Lance chuckled, he covered the top of the paper with his hand. “It doesn’t matter if he thinks we’re together or not. He’ll probably forget anyway.”

“Forget? How many people come through here a day?”

Lance moved his arm off of the tiki board surface, leaving it crooked. “A shit ton, he basically filters out all unnecessary things unless you’re one of his customers. Like, he only remembers my birthday because my parents bought me a board from him on my birthday.”

“Oh, so selective memory.” Keith checked his phone for his number before writing it down on the paper. “That must have been useful in high school.”

“Not necessarily, for me, I don’t think any of that shit is important so I’d forget it all.”

“You’d probably remember Allurah’s shirt color,” Keith mumbled under his breath, he turned his body away from Lance. Pretending to suddenly be interested in a plastic tub of board cleaner.

“Keith are you--” There was the airy sound of something falling, followed by a crash. Keith whipped around, immediately seeing three things. The large heavy board crashed into a nearby shelf, paint spilled on the board, and Lance flinching away with his eyes closed.

“What the hell?” Keith put down the board cleaner and squatted down next to mess.

“I barely touched it!” Lance said opening his eyes, he looked baffled at his own mess.

“Somehow I don’t believe that.” Keith grimaced and picked up the tub of paint to prevent it from spilling anymore than it already had. He placed his clipboard next to the fallen surfboard and tried to find something to clean up the paint on the ground. Lance grabbed the board and pulled it up, leaning it back against the wall.

“This is the fifth time today.” Keith turned to the side to see the store owner with hands on the side of his hips. He approached them and stood above Keith. Keith shied away from him, giving a foot of room between them.

“So....are you saying this isn’t my fault?” Lance asked hopefully.

“No, it’s completely your fault. It only falls if people are careless around it, but I’ve had a lot of careless people in the store today.” He looked towards Lance. “Thank you for at least owning up to it.”

“Uh...yeah you’re welcome.” Lance awkwardly chuckled, proving that he hadn’t entirely meant to out himself. “So...how much is the paint?”

“Don’t worry about...if you were another one of those clueless tourists I might have made you pay for this entire thing. Maybe even the new scratches on the surfboard.” Mr. Whiteman grunted and came to his knees. He took the paint bucket gently from Keith’s hands. At Keith’s surprised look he smiled. “No problem, I’ll handle it. Don’t let this ruin your date.”

“Thanks so much, Mr. Whiteman! I promise I’ll have Hunk come by with something delicious for you and the Mrs.” Lance said, cutting into whatever Keith wanted to say.

“No problem, for you I’ll forgive a lot of things. Now, no offense but get lost before you knock over anymore paint.” Keith slowly stood fully and looked at Lance unsurely. Lance took the bend of Keith’s arm and tugged him a little closer to him.

“We’ll be on our way!” Lance smiled and began walking out of the small store dragging Keith with him.

When they were outside and Keith could smell the thick salty air, rather than the paint he flashed Lance a look. “Why do I feel like this happens a lot with you?”

“Because it does, I’m clumsy as shit. Now let's go to a store with less expensive shit that I can break.” Lance continued walking, the hand on Keith’s elbow lowered until they held hands again. Keith didn’t mention how there were very few people on the sidewalk. There was a sense of a calm he got from holding Lance’s hand, that he didn’t fully understand.

“Where are we going exactly?” Keith asked, most of the shops looked the same until you actually looked inside of them. Keith peeked into a few as they went along. Glass shops, pottery shops, knick-knack shops, pawn shops, and many clothing shops.

“One of those sketchy tourist traps, with a bunch of useless junk for 2 dollars,” Lance said as they stopped in front of a store. Keith didn’t get to read the store title before he was tugged inside.

The first thing he saw inside was a skeleton in a chair, it had a purple, pink, and blue boa around its neck, and a pirate hat on. Keith immediately winced and let go of Lance’s hand. He did a complete 36o to take in all of the room.

He couldn’t deny that it still matched the beach aesthetic, except for the cracked tile flooring. There was a rack of sweatshirts and t-shirts that lined the walls. Keith could practically see the letters peeling off. The middle section of shelves was just an accumulation of candy and cheap beach toys that would only truly entertain children.

“Come on, this place is the best.” Lance walked forward disappearing into one of the lines of shelves. Keith rolled his eyes and jogged after him.

The shelf that Lance had decided to begin with was stocked with off-brand candies. They looked similar enough to the original to be mistaken by a child, but there was undoubtedly a taste difference between them.

Keith reached forward grabbing a package of Oxygen Heads, he looked over at Lance with his eyebrow raised.

“Grab a bag! Load up, this stuff is actually pretty good and dirt cheap.” Lance grabbed two paper blue bags off a dispenser on the wall of the shelf. He handed one to Keith who reluctantly took it from him.

“Aren’t we already going out to eat?” Keith asked he opened the bag up slowly, Lance paused with his arms outstretched towards the shelf.

“Uh, save it for the campfire then? We can also just keep it stockpiled in the house.” Keith thought for a moment and shrugged, he might as well except the full lifeguard culture.

He turned back to the shelves going for the fruity candy knockoffs first. He threw in Sunbursts, Skedaddles, Sizzlers, Oxygen Heads rainbow Cosmic Strands, and even threw in German Fish for good measure.

“Hey, the Skedaddle gum is amazing,” Lance advised, he threw in a pack of gum into Keith’s bag. Lance seemed to have a pretty good mix of most of the types of candy. Obviously more experienced than Keith.

When their bags were filled to the top, Lance grabbed one of the one-handed carriages. He placed both their bags next to each other and began walking off.

“Come on they have some pretty cool name thingies,” Lance called, Keith took a pack of Butter Thumbs and followed after Lance.

There was an entire section of the store dedicated to cheesy keychains with peoples names on it. Lance went to a section with seashells and hunched over looking around the K section.

“Here! Keith,” He took a blue dusty shell off the rack and showed Keith his find. Keith crossed his arms and inspected the shell. At a point in his looking his eyes drifted up to inspect Lance’s face. There was a careless look in his eyes, as he

turned the shell over in his hands.

When Lance’s eyes flicked his way, Keith immediately evaded eye contact focusing back on the shell. “I’m not buying it,”

“What? Why not?” Lance laid the shell flat on his palm.

“Because it’s a dumb keychain, and if I live here I don’t need to be reminded that I live here.”

“But you should take advantage of this! My name never shows up anywhere, we should get this in honor of me.”

“So this is a you thing?” Keith took the shell from Lance’s hand. It was cheaply dusted with sparkly sand along the rim.

“Of course it is, let’s get it. It’s either this or a matching bracelet set.” Keith looked away from the seashell and made direct eye contact with Lance. He was taken aback for a moment how creamy his eyes looked.

“Matching bracelet set? Like best friend set?”

“Sort of, but I don’t see any in this section.”

“Then what?” Keith set the seashell down. Lance held up a finger, then turned around. He combed through useless charm bracelets and lockets shaped like seashells and threw a seagull stuffed animal aside.

“Like this!” He took out a metal band bracelet. One of the adjustable ones where a person would have to squeeze or pull to make it smaller or larger. All it had on the surface was words inscribed, with seashells on either side of them.

Keith’s only problem with the words where that it read  _I’m His_ on one band and  _I’m Her’s_ on the other. Keith made eye contact with Lance again, ignoring how hopeful and soft they looked. “I’m not getting this.”

“But why! It’s simple, that’s your style, right? It’ll be fun, just two bros with matching bands.”

“Why do you want matching bracelets with me? We’re not even best friends. I’ve known you for like a month.”

Lance thought for a moment and let out a long extremely drawn out sigh. “Well first of all because I’ve never had matching jewelry with anyone. And two because I want to be more than just two guys who sleep together, and sometimes talk when we’re not glaring at each other.”

Keith was taken aback for a moment, he hadn’t really expected that from Lance. “Oh?” He didn’t know what to say in return. He never had anyone actually care about what he was to them after the fact.

“Yeah. It’s really not my style, but it's cool if it's yours. I kind of want to see...where this goes? Like if we could function as something more. You know?”

Keith wasn’t exactly sure what Lance what Lance wanted in particular. He assumed Lance was talking about a closer friendship than the already had. Which wasn’t too hard to accomplish.

He wanted to say no again, stop any beginnings of anything that could get him hurt again. He bit his lip, his mistake was looking back at Lance. He had some sort of heartbreaking, overly cute, childish look on his face that made him both insanely attractive and pitiful.

“Fine...but I’m not I’m His,” Keith said confidently, Lance smiled slyly.

“So you want to be the woman?”

Keith blushed and thought for a moment. “I mean I don’t want to be the woman.” He paused, “Because I’m a guy.” He elaborated.

“Don’t worry I figured. Well since our society isn’t fully sexuality inclusive yet, I guess we’ll just have to make do.” Lance shrugged, about to put the bracelet in the basket.

“No wait, just do this.” Keith picked up another pair of the bracelets. He wiggled them apart until he only had a,  _I’m His_  bracelets.

Lance raised both of his eyebrows and handed Keith the other  _I’m His_  bracelet. “Isn’t this illegal?”

Keith thought for a moment and shrugged. “I mean they’re probably used to shoplifters anyway, but we’ll pay for them right?” He tied the two,  _I’m Her_  bracelets together. “There, now we made this section more sexuality inclusive.”

Lance thought for a moment and shrugged. “Can’t go wrong making the world gayer. Let’s go pay for this.”

Keith nodded and followed Lance towards the front counter. On his way, his eyes lingered on a rainbow fedora that made him smile. Lance turned back in time to catch Keith’s short-lived smile.

“Wow, I actually saw your teeth. What did it?” Lance stopped walking, making Keith nearly bump into his back. Keith blushed and shrugged, his eyes drifted towards the rainbow fedora. Lance followed his gaze and smiled. He immediately went to the hanger and picked it off the rack.

“That’s everything, and it now will be yours.” He put it in their small cart. “You’re one hundred percent gay right?”

“Uh, yeah I am.” Lance smiled and stood back next to him as they continued walking.

“Good, I guess I only have to worry about one gender huh?”

Keith raised his eyebrow, he doubted many people would want to be his friend. “I mean I guess,”

He blushed when Lance flashed him a dazzling smile. Lance reached over and pushed a piece of Keith’s hair out of his face. “You cover up your face too much.”

Keith opened his mouth couldn’t force more words to come out. His entire throat constricting as the pace of his heart drastically increased. He was saved by the cashier clearing his throat.

Keith and Lance both looked at him. He was a small Asian woman who was wearing a too large ocean button up. “How can I help you?”

Lance set down their basket of things and put them out one by one. “Just these things.” The cashier nodded and quickly began scanning things through. He paused at the two bracelets. She looked at the two boys, then back at the bracelets. She just shook her head slightly like she had too long of a day to even question.

Lance smiled and elbowed Keith lightly in the side. He looked behind him his eyes falling on the skeleton. “Oh wait,” Lance said suddenly, he looked back at the woman. “Is that boa for sale?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t have a price so I’ll give it to you for a dollar.” She clicked a button on her cash register and looked back at Lance. “That’ll be 15 dollars.”

“I love cheap crap,” Lance said happily, he took out his wallet and handed her a twenty. “You can keep the change.” He said smiling, he glanced towards Keith with an eyebrow raised.

Keith had the vague sense that Lance was somehow trying to show off for him. The cashier shrugged and handed Lance the plastic bag full of things. Lance thanked her and took the bag, he reached for Keith’s hand.

“Ready to go?” Lance asked, Keith, nodded and allowed Lance to intertwine their fingers. Lance grabbed the boa from the skeleton's neck and put it around his own. He fished out the rainbow fedora from their plastic bag and put it on Keith’s head. “Great now we both represent gay and bi-culture.”

“Do we now?”

“Yes, we’re icons. And icons get to eat bomb baked goods, so let’s go.” Keith wouldn't disagree with him, instead following him down the almost endless street.

They finally reached a building that was significantly bigger than the rest of the small beach shops. It even had a small parking lot to the side of it. The lot was mostly filled with chained up bikes, and scooters. But it did had the occasional older car somewhere in the corner.

“It’s actually called Linda’s Bakery?” Keith asked, rereading the sign at the top of the building.

“Well yeah,” Lance lead him through the front door. It was a completely different vibe inside. It felt more like a hipster cafe, then a beachside bakery. It was slightly cooler inside, and there were a decent amount of people sitting in overly tall chairs and sipping their drinks.

“Does Linda actually own this place?” Keith asked they headed towards the line. There were thin ropes that guided the path. At the beginning of the path were pamphlets with the different menu orders. Keith let go of Lance’s hand and grabbed one, he opened it up and looked at the wide menu selection. He doubted that the bakery had all of the goodies, but one look at the elongated glass counter put his mind to ease.

“No, but her great-grandson Linda Junior does,” Lance said casually, he had leaned over Keith’s shoulder getting a peek at the menu.

“Linda Junior?” Keith looked up taken aback for a moment at how close their faces were. Lance glanced at Keith’s lips then back at his eyes, he cleared his throat softly and took a step back.

“Uh yeah, he’s trans. But there was a long line of naming the first born child Linda, and I guess in this family the first born child was always a girl.”

“Why didn’t he just change his name?”

“Because he said Linda was a badass name, and who was he to break tradition.” Lance pointed at the maple frosted cinnamon bun. “That’s absolute heaven, by the way, they periodically switch options out and around. But that always stays.”

Keith looked at the picture, it alone made his mouth salivate. His eyes flickered to the side and he found his prey. “I was promised sea salt caramel brownies, and I think that’s exactly what I’ll get.”

“Fair enough, I suggest getting a drink with that. The caramel is delicious but gets stuck to the top of your mouth.” Keith nodded, he flipped to the drink section picking one out before getting to the front of the line.

“What can I get you two?” The barista asked. He had longish shaggy hair, it was brown and looked a bit knotty. Keith raised an eyebrow, he was in a semi dripping wetsuit with an apron on.

“Linda! Whats up dude. I thought you were diving down at the reefs for the rest of the summer.” Lance held out his hand. Linda smiled and completed a strange handshake with him.

“Don’t worry I’m still heading back, just needed to drop off some killer seashells that I found. Come by later and I’ll show you a few.”

“Actually we’re having a campfire tonight, if you come by later tonight you can say hey to everyone. Allurah will be there.” Lance said like he was practically waving a piece of candy in his face.

“Dude, you should have just led with that. I’ll be there.” Linda turned his head his eyes widening at Keith. “This the dude you’ve been talking to?”

“Yeah, his names Keith.”

“I can speak for myself,” Keith grumbled, he suddenly become hyper-aware of the rainbow fedora. His hand itched to take it off. “My name’s Keith.” He looked at Linda, who smiled back at him.

“Well Keith, I’m a bi guy myself but I don’t always fuck with guys. I’d definitely fuck with you.” Keith blushed at the obvious compliment and avoided eye contact.

“Thanks, I guess.” He bit the corner of his lip.

“No probs, you’ve got that surfers bode. Do you surf?” Linda inquired.

“Dude, this is Cegull everyone surfs,” Lance said quickly, Keith glanced over at him he was tapping his finger against the counter.

“Yeah, I’m learning,” Keith answered for himself flashing Lance a look.

“Ah, well you should take lessons from me. I am  _amazing_  with the movement of the body. And we both know the sea, and surfing is all about the motion.” Linda moved his lower half in a circle. Keith’s eyes quickly glanced below the waist. He noticed a bulge that was presumably from a packer but probably wouldn’t fail to seduce most.

“I’m great with that too, so that’s why I’m teaching him. It’s going really well, he’s a great learner. And our orders are two sea salt caramel brownies with two milks. Keith why don’t you find us a table.” Keith opened his mouth slightly and looked between Linda and Lance. Two bisexuals who currently had very opposing emotions.

He mumbled an okay and picked walked to one of the high tables. He picked one close to a window, secluded in the corner. He looked back over to Linda and Lance who were still talking to each other as Linda fulfilled their order.

Keith couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Lance looked annoyed while Linda looked minorly amused. He pat Lance on the shoulder, once and put the brown paper bag in front of him. Lance let out a sigh and took out his money to pay, but Linda shook his hand. The gestured to the area where Keith was and smiled. Lance gave him a weak smile and Keith could make out a thank you. Keith quickly looked away as Lance made his way over to him.

“Two brownies and two milks,” Lance announced he set one of each on either side of the table and sat across from Keith.

“I thought you wanted a maple bun or whatever.” Keith unwrapped his brownie and quirked his eyebrow at Lance.

“I decided to match with my bud.” Lance set their plastic bag down and took out the two bracelets. He passed one to Keith and put on his. “We should have walked in with these,” Lance mumbled to mostly himself.

“Would it have made a difference? I think if the fedora and the boa didn’t do it, then he wouldn’t have noticed bracelets.” He tightened his around his wrist.

“Don’t think anything of it, he likes Allurah anyway. We used to fight over who she’d go out with actually.” Keith felt a soft burn off annoyance and opened his milk.

“What’s the deal with her anyway? Why’s everyone so in love with her?”

“Is that jealousy I hear?” Lance sang Keith’s cheeks burned he looked down.

“Nevermind.” He picked up his brownie.

“No no, sorry. The pot shouldn’t be calling the kettle black. And she doesn’t have a deal. She’s just pretty, nice and really smart. Her Uncle owns the beach, and because he basically raised her she’ll own the beach soon.”

“That’s why she’s there so often?” Keith asked.

“Well yeah, it is. I had a major crush on her for a few years but it’s gone now.”

“Since when?” Keith asked, lifting the brownie to his mouth.

“A month ago.” He made eye contact with Keith. Keith looked away bashful and took a small bite of the brownie. His eyes widened in amazement. He tasted caramel chocolate goodness, it was thick and rich. He let out an involuntary moan. Lance chuckled and took a bite of his own.

“Linda’s food is legendary, even the milk somehow tastes magical. No offense to Linda’s mom, Linda. But ever since Linda Junior took over the food as somehow just gotten better.”

Keith had gotten confused with all the Linda’s but he didn’t care. The food was delicious and he didn’t care which Linda made it for him.

“So what’s your deal?” Lance asked he took a large bite of his brownie.

“What do you mean?” Keith asked he opened up his milk to help wash it down.

“Well...” Lance hummed thinking for a moment. “I don’t know how to put it but you’ve been on edge since you got to Cegull. You don’t sleep well alone, you seemed really distressed when you first got here, and your dad sounds like a huge douche. Not to mention, the whole you're a delinquent thing. The worst you’ve done so far is the shit with the bracelets.”

Keith slowly put down his brownie. He knew this moment would happen eventually, and he was sort of glad Lance asked first. The turning in his stomach reminded how little he even wanted to think about it. “It’s no big deal.” He mumbled. “I mean it is, but it’s not. It shouldn’t be.”

“It’s okay if it is,” Lance said softly.

“Um, well my foster parents they wanted me to become a doctor. So they wasted all this money on sending me to Ivy league college, and my entire life since high school has been just school related. I met this guy...and he was awesome and gay and I thought he liked me. He took me to parties and everything was great. I felt really normal. But I wanted to come out because I wanted to be a normal college kid. I thought I’d be okay with becoming a doctor and stuff if I was just allowed to be a normal guy, with a boyfriend and shit.”

“Did he say no?”

“It was kind of worse...he said some shitty things. Told me I’d be the last guy he’d come out with, I mean he was drunk but it still hurt. So then he left me on the porch and walked out into the road, I think he wanted to say something dumb about rather dying. And then...” Keith trailed off for a while, until he found his breath. “The car came and he did...die.”

Lance was quiet for awhile, they both knew that Keith needed the silence to collect himself. “Why would they call you a delinquent then?”

“Because I was at a party with alcohol, and I’m not 21. I didn’t have to testify in court, and I guess the whole thing was a reality check. I was on my way here a few months after. Therapy and legal shit with schools took awhile.”

“It’s not your fault you know?” Keith shrugged in response he picked up his brownie a bit less enthused about eating it. Lance got up from his chair and made a show of dragging it until it was right next to Keith’s.

“What are you doing?” Lance sat in the chair, his arm now firmly touching Keith’s. He leaned in closed until their faces were close. Keith immediately felt his breath being stolen with every inhale from Lance. His heart beat so fast that he couldn’t feel it anymore.

“Being normal,” He pressed his lips firmly against Keith’s. The feeling between them was so hot that the air surrounding Keith’s face felt warm. He wasn’t surprised when Lance didn’t pull away from him. Instead, he put both hands on Lance’s face and bringing him closer.

He ignored the annoying tickle of the boa around Lance’s neck. They didn’t stop kissing until they both ran out of air.

“That never gets old,” Lance said as soon as their lips separated.

“No, it doesn’t.” Keith agreed, he resisted feeling his lips or kissing Lance again.

“Why don’t we finish up, and then we can spend the rest of the afternoon being normal.”

“How?” Keith had a few ideas that made his heart constrict and his stomach tickle.

“Anyway you want, even if it’s making out to What Time Is it.” Lance smiled and moved closer, he pressed a kiss on Keith’s cheek.

“Will the others mind if we are a little late to the campfire.”

“A fire is a fire, it can always wait and there will always be more. And frankly, I don’t care if you don’t.”

“Oh, then I don’t care.” Keith smiled, he moved his hands away from Lance’s face and took one of his hands in his own. “We’re not feeding each other brownies by the way.”

Lance pouted and reached for his own brownie. “Fine, I’ll save that for part two.” Keith rolled his eyes at his cuteness. He turned his head hiding a small smile, he really hoped there would be a part two. 


	6. Chapter 6

Keith tried and failed to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. Typically his long nights with Lance didn’t affect him as much, but Keith could count how many hours of sleep he had gotten on his hand.

He was lucky Lance chose a Monday night to force him to watch most of the Harry Potter movies. Tuesday was especially not busy, but that was a double-edged sword for Keith. On one hand, he didn’t have many people relying on him, on the other, there wasn’t enough business to keep him awake.

There were very few children on his side of the beach, most parents were working, most grandparents were sleeping. Lance’s side, on the other hand, had quite a few small gangs of teenagers at the beach without parent supervision.

Keith glanced over in Lance’s direction, his eyes were constantly scanning the teenage groups, his arms were crossed and his sunglasses were on. Keith bit the corner of his lip, he couldn’t deny Lance fit the attractive Lifeguard trope perfectly.

Over the past few days since their trip around the town, Lance’s flirting had only gotten stronger and Keith’s guard had nearly crumbled. Lance’s head tilted Keith’s way, he flashed him a flirty smile and winked. Keith’s heart constricted and he turned his head away, his cheeks growing a deep red.

He let out breaths and tried focusing on the potential for any of the toddlers in the water in front of him drowning. He also tried to keep in mind his motivation for the day. Lance had promised he had a treat for him during their lunch break.

“Could you put sunscreen on my friends back?” Keith heard a higher pitched giggly voice ask. He turned his head and watched as two teenage girls held a bottle of sunscreen up towards Lance. One had her blond hair in a french braid, she was also in a tightly fitted blue one-piece bathing suit. The other had darker skin, thick curly hair, and the bathing suit equivalent of a thong.

Lance looked down at them and lifted his sunglasses. Keith felt his stomach twisting already as he imagined Lance accepting and massaging one of the girls with sunscreen. “Sorry I’m on duty, maybe one of your other friends can help you.”

The darker skinned girl pouted and looked at her blonde friend, then back at Lance. “But being on duty never stopped you before.  _And_  it’s a Tuesday, I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to drown today,”

Lance looked a bit thoughtful, he took off his sunglasses off completely. “Okay I’ll come clean, I’m kind of seeing someone. So...I want to avoid anything that could make him jealous.” He gave them a sincere smile.

The two girls dropped their pouts and looked at each other. Annoyance in their eyes, the blonde shot Lance a pissed look and lowered her sunscreen arm. “Whatever fag,” She said casually, she turned around and began walking off. The darker skinned one pushed her curls to the side and followed after her.

Keith’s eyes widened and he immediately felt bad for Lance. Lance rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He slipped the sunglasses back on. In a sudden movement, he turned his head to look at Keith, catching him staring.

“Hey, when Hunk comes to take our position I have a treat for you!” He called over to Keith, every enthusiasm in his voice from before. It was like the comment had never been thrown at him.

“A treat?” Keith cocked his head and leaned over the edge of his chair.

“Technically two, but I think you’ll get one before the other.” Lance wiggled his eyebrows which made Keith’s heart jump.

“Um, okay...” Keith wasn’t sure what he was supposed to emote so he gave him an awkward smile. Lance laughed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Keith, I promise it’s nothing weird. Don’t look so scared.” That made Keith genuinely smile, he shrugged.

“Sorry, last time you said you had a surprise for me. A crab pinched your groin and you screamed like a small child.” Keith chuckled slightly at the memory. Lance scoffed and made sure his glasses were secured to his face.

“I thought we agreed never to speak of it.”

“I never agreed, you just said you wanted us to never speak of it. There’s a difference.”

“Wow, being sassy with me? On this beach? I can’t believe this,” Lance shook his head and crossed his arms, but he never turned away from Keith.

“Sorry,” Keith laughed a bit, “wait, no I’m not.” He stuck out his tongue, which made Lance’s pout turn into a smile.

“Well, maybe now I won’t give you your present.”

“A second ago, it was a treat. Now it’s a present?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“Well I’m hoping you will feel worse if I call it a present,” Lance paused. “Do you feel worse?” Lance asked hopefully.

Keith pretended to think for a moment, he ignored how cute Lance looked at the moment. “Not really, but I’d still love the  _treat_ if you’re offering it.”

Lance huffed, “Fine, but only because I can’t use your  _present_.”

Keith smirked and began to say something when there was a cry coming from behind Lance. Keith frowned and looked behind Lance’s head. There was a younger teenager floundering her arms wildly as a particularly harsh wave carried her farther out to sea.

Lance turned tilted his head and his eyes widened, he put a whistle to his lips and blew hard. He grabbed the lifesaver attached to the chair and jumped off the chair. He began sprinting for the water coast, he dove into the water when the water reached his ankle.

Keith climbed down from the chair and approached the coast. His heart was beating wildly, he hadn’t been part of an actual save yes. “Clear a path!” He yelled at the teenagers watching dumbly the girl. A few tried to go towards the girl, Keith ran into the water. “Hey! Stop, don’t go near her just don’t get in his way!”

The girls head began to duck under more often than it was up. Lance had been quickly swimming towards the girl, he finally stopped behind her. He avoided her wildly flinging arms and put the lifesaver near her. Keith squinted but couldn’t see much of the specifics of what Lance was doing.

After a few minutes, Lance came swimming back, dragging the girl with her. He was being steady but as fast as he could, but still looked worried. Keith frowned and tried to get a good look at the girl. She still seemed conscious but was coughing.

Keith ran backward so that he was on the beach again. As Lance got to shallower water he picked the young girl up and jogged her the rest of the way to the beach. Lance set her down on the beach, and Keith knelt down next to her.

“She won’t need CPR,” Lance mumbled as he patted her back, the girl hunched over trying to cough out all the water in her lungs. Her thick knotted brown hair creating a curtain for her face. “Get her a towel Keith,” Lance said firmly.

Keith shot up realizing he was being useless. He ran to one of the vacant chairs and pulled down one of the lifeguard towels. Keith jogged over to the girl and wrapped it around her shoulders. She mumbled what sounded like a thank you.

Lance was close to her rubbing her back and mumbling comforting things. A man, closer to Lance and Keith’s age, ran towards them.

“Cassie! Are you okay? Shit, that wave really took you away.” He crouched on the other side of the girl and joined Lance in rubbing her back. The girl pushed back her hair and bit back a sob. She moved away from Lance and leaned against the older teenager. She held onto him as he continued patting her house.

“Thank you so much for saving my sister, she’s not the strongest swimmer.”

“It’s no problem, that wave was oddly strong. I guess high tide is coming at a weird time today.” Lance brought his hand to his side, with Cassie no longer needing his help.

The brother smiled, a small dimple resting on the side of his cheek. He looked between Lance and Keith. “Thank you so much, my name is Kyle.” He extended the hand not holding onto Cassie towards Lance.

“The names Lance,” Lance shook Kyle’s hand, Kyle turned to Keith and extended his hand toward him.

Keith was surprised to receive acknowledgment but took Kyle’s hand. He gave him a quick handshake and let go. “My name is Keith,” He added after a brief moment of silence.

“Well thank you, Keith,”

“Oh, I really didn’t do anything. Lance deserves all the recognition. I just put a towel on her shoulder.” Keith explained.

“Well, I couldn’t have chosen a cuter person to save my little sister.” Kyle gave Keith a flirty smile, none of the previous fear on his face. Keith blushed and opened his mouth, not sure how to respond.

“Hey man, maybe you should get your sister home. She still looks really shaken up.” Lanc cut in, he moved over so that he was kneeling especially close to Keith. Kyle looked at the both of them and nodded slowly.

“Uh...yeah, thanks again.” He stood up carrying his sister in his arms and walking off.

“Some guys have no timing,” Lance grumbled as Kyle walked farther away.

“You had some pretty nice timing saving that girl,” Keith mumbled, he felt like Lance deserved every compliment for his actions.

“We are not  _some guys_ , now let’s go on that lunch break soon.” Lance stood up and pulled Keith up with him. Lance looked to the left of them and smiled, Keith turned his head trying to find where Lance was looking. His eyes landed on Hunk in his yellow shorts and white lifeguard T-shirt. He had a med kit in one hand, and a sandwich in another.

“Hunks here, but shouldn’t we tell him what happened?” Keith asked, Lance had taken his hand and was slowly dragging him away from the spot they had been.

“We can do that tomorrow if I tell him we’ll have a campfire tonight.”

“I thought you liked campfires,” Keith said, he looked behind him and made brief eye contact with Hunk. Hunk took a bite of his sandwich and waved, not making any more effort to disturb them.

“I do, but I told you I have a very special treat for you. It will most likely be an all-day affair. So we’re going to change into different clothes, then take a short motorcycle ride.” Lance had picked up his pace, close to jogging Keith back to their home.

“What if I don’t agree to this?” Keith asked, his breath hitching as Lance squeezed their hands tighter.

“Then I’ll just throw you over my shoulder and take you anyway,” Lance said he was laughing but Keith could tell he wasn’t lying.

“Fine! But it better be a good treat!” Keith hid a smile and began running faster, now he was the one running ahead of Lance.

“Hey!” Lance protested and tried running faster than Keith but was unsuccessful. Keith nearly laughed at his adorable frustrated face.

When they reached their staircase Keith raced Lance up the steps beating him again. He was panting slightly harder than Lance was but they were both smiling.

“That was awful.” Lance held his chest with his left hand and opened the door with his right.

“At least you’re dry.” Keith countered, he stepped through the doors and into their small beach house. Lance looked down at his damp clothes, he felt his now dry arm and shrugged.

“I guess you’re right. I hope you don’t mind me not taking a shower, I think it’ll be pointless when you find out what I have planned.” Lance entered the house and closed the door behind.

“Why does the treat include you becoming wet?”

Lance ran his fingers through his hair a couple times before finally speaking. “Let’s call it a date okay?”

Keith’s eyes widened, he was silent. Taken aback for a moment. “A date?”

“Yeah a date, you wanted normal right? Well, dates are normal, now I’m going to get dressed.” He flashed Keith a smile and headed inside his room.

Keith was left in a state of shock. The word date flung around in his mind for awhile before it finally landed. Dates were for people who were considering dating. A blush blossomed across Keith’s face. He wondered if Lance wanted to date him, the thought sent a tingle through his chest. Keith smiled and went to his room, quickly changing into different shorts, and a random blue shirt. He made sure to leave his sunglasses on the bed and picked up a red-rimmed one which he thought looked cool.

He stepped out of his room and waited by the front door area for Lance who still hadn’t finished. He rolled his eyes and took out his phone to roam the internet. His phone began buzzing aggressively, Keith sighed and opened the caller app. The name on the ID made him feel wrong in most of the ways possible. He reluctantly answered it and put it to his ear.

“Hello, son,”

“Father, it is nice to hear your voice.” Keith lied, he leaned against the door, he needed all the support he could get us.

“I suppose that’s a lie seeing as you don’t call. But it doesn’t matter. I hear that you have gotten into that seaside college you applied for.” Keith’s eyes widened and his sick feeling turned to joy.

“Really? I didn’t think I would.”

“Oh? You didn’t even care enough to check? What are you a drug addict already?”

Keith frowned, his adoptive father always finding a way to bring him back down from any emotional high. “No, I’ve just been working a lot. I hadn’t checked my mail yet but thank you for telling me.”

“Hm, work yes. Have you been seeing any men?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, but no. I haven’t.” He could see Lance come from the hallway out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, so you’ve chosen to remain abstinent because you were toyed with? Is that it?”

“No, I’m not staying abstinent. I’m just...I...why did you call me? Just to remind me of  _him_? Or was there an actual reason.”

“Don’t speak to me like that.” Keith’s father hissed. Keith flinched and closed his eyes not saying anything. “I’m just calling to check in. Make sure you’re not wasting our money for you to go party, and hookup other homosexuals. I  _especially_  don’t want to waste money on another court case,”

“I don’t go to parties, I told you I’ve just been working. There will be no more court cases, I can promise you that.” He whispered, he didn’t care if he was audible through the phone or not.

“Good, now if I hear about you getting into any trouble not only will I disown you. Which is pretty easy when you’re the father of an orphan, and I will cut your funds dry. Do I make myself clear?” He said lowly.

Keith nodded then remembered the man wasn’t in the same room as him. “Yes sir,” He mumbled, the line cut out without his adoptive father ever say goodbye. Keith moved his face away from the phone and let out an uneasy breath. He knew that the man had just called him to antagonize him further.

“Whoever was on the phone, just know I’m ready to kick their asses.” Keith finally got a good look at Lance. He was wearing a blue shirt, with cargo pants and a drawstring back on his shoulder.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s just my male legal guardian.” Keith moved his eyes down so he didn’t have to look at Lance.

“That’s a fancy way of saying asshole dad.” Lance put an arm on Keith’s shoulder.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s just keeping tabs on me. Making sure I’m not having any fun, and remember that I’m responsible for a person’s death.” Keith resisted just leaning into Lance and crying.

“Uh uh, no. No way am I letting some asshole all the way across the country make you feel like shit right now.” He pulled Keith closer to his chest and hugged him with both his arms.

Keith closed his eyes and melted into Lance’s embrace. He managed to fight off tears but his shoulders shook slightly. Lance hugged him tighter, he pressed a kiss to the top of Keith’s forehead.

“You’re amazing okay? He’s a huge douche bag, meaning that all of his opinions about you are null and void. Okay?”

Keith wasn’t sure where the logic came from, but he nodded regardless. “I guess so,” He didn’t feel one hundred percent convinced.

“No, there isn’t any I guess so. You’re never going to listen to that ass again. We’re going to go on a date, and we’ll have so much fun it won’t even be funny. Then one day when you’re comfortable, you’ll tell him about all the good times you’ve had. And he’ll just have to deal with it. Okay?” Lance looked at Keith hopefully, his arms still wrapped around him. Keith looked up, meeting Lance’s eye and nodded.

Lance shot him a wide smile and slowly loosened his hold on Keith. He kept one arm around Keith’s shoulder. “Come on, you’ll be smiling by the end of our ride I guarantee.” Lance reached over to a hook and grabbed his motorcycle keys. He slipped them into his back pocket and lead him out.

Keith didn’t say anything as they walked to the beach employee parking lot. He tried focusing on the footprints the two of them left in the sand. Something about the imprints set his mind at ease, slowly he felt like he could breathe normally again.

“Here we are, my beautiful girl.” Lance stopped next to a regular looking bike. It was decently sized, though it looked more like a scooter than anything. There was a crude painting of a blue lion on the side of it, it looked like something a 5-year-old would do.

“Do you have siblings?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, I have 3 of them. Why do you ask?”

“I just think it was kinda nice you’d let them paint on your bike.”

Lance looked at the bike then at Keith. “I did that.”

Keith’s eyebrows went up and he held back laughter. “Oh.” He was smiling a bit, he couldn’t help it. “Are you an aspiring artist or something?”

Lance put a hand on his hip. “And if I am?”

“Nothing, you just have...a ways to go.” Keith snorted and covered his mouth. A part of him felt bad but there was too much to laugh about. It was really just a blue blob with ears and a lions mane.

“Ugh, I’ll remember this.” Lance climbed on the bike and put his keys inside. “Come on get on the back, I don’t have seatbelts so just hold my waist.”

Keith got behind Lance and slowly sat down on the seat behind him, he hesitated his hands not yet touching Lance’s waist.

“Oh come on,” Lance took Keith’s hands and put them on his waist. “Just pretend it’s a cheesy romance movie.” He took the helmet hanging on the handlebars and passed them to Keith.

“I don’t need them,” Keith said, Lance kept his hand hovering about Keith’s head.

“Come on, I’m more experienced and you’re not. So where the helmet, I don’t need you dead yet.” Keith looked up for a moment and sighed. He grabbed the helmet and put it over his head.

“What is the yet for?”

Lance brought up his kickstand and revved the engine of the bike bringing it to life. “Well I want you to die of happiness one day, but until then you have to stay alive.” Lance tucked his legs on the sides of the bike and drove out of the parking lot and into the street.

Keith chose not to comment on Lance’s illogical idea of death, instead, he looked around them. As often as they have taken walks around the town there always seemed like there was something new to see. Lance drove slowly, with the lack of traffic there was no one waiting behind him.

The full scent of the ocean breeze hit them and it set Keith completely at ease. For him, it was different smelling the ocean when he was right near it than when he was driving by and the salty breeze hit him.

When they got to the main shopping area with all the small shops Lance didn’t slow down. At every turn, Keith was expecting Lance to slow down and park beside by the curve but he didn’t stop.

As they drove longer Keith’s grip on Lance’s back relaxed more, and so did his body. He let his chest touch Lance’s back, he even scooted forward in more contact with him. Lance was so warm, and the strum of Lance’s heartbeat made his own heart pattern a little louder.

“Almost there!” Lance yelled against the wind. Keith didn’t yell back, he just squeezed around Lance’s waist. He looked to the side of them as the small stores turned into long stretches of sand. At a certain spot in seemingly the middle of a beach, Lance slowed down his bike. He leaned to the side stopping it completely.

As the bike stopped Keith took his cue and climbed off the bike. Lance followed suit and held it by the handles. “A little more walking.” Keith nodded and followed Lance as he parked the bike near a wide tree in a patch of grass.

Keith looked at the beach more it was filled with patches of both dirt and sand. When he looked back at Lance, his hands were gestured towards Keith. “Can I hold your hand?” He asked.

Keith blinked, it was such a simple request but it made his heart pick up speed again. He nodded and took Lance’s hand, it was warm and larger than his. Keith couldn’t help think how well they fit together. Lance began walking again, and Keith followed silently. Their arms sometimes brushing together.

They beach dipped down a bit to a small area with a mysterious looking cave and a few other things in a bundle towards the center. Keith looked at Lance expecting an answer. Lance’s face was splitting at the seams with an excited smile.

“Surprise, this is it.” Lance stopped near the bundle and took his hand away from Keith’s. He gestured with both hands, whatever it was had been covered by beach towels. Keith did recognize a basket next to it.

“Towels?” Keith cocked his head.

Lance looked then chuckled, “No no,” He squatted next to the bundle and dramatically tore off the towels. Keith’s eyes became the size of saucers.

Underneath was a slim red surfboard with a tail at the bottom. It had several interesting designs with paws where his feet would go. It was smaller than the other one he had been using, much more fit for his size.

Keith silently walked to the other side of it, he knelt down and dragged his hand across its surface. He looked at Lance then back down at the board. At the very bottom of the tail was a slight inscription. One that matched the name of the surfboard store they had gone to.

“But...how? I didn’t give him my information.”

Lance seemed especially pleased and dramatically cleared his throat. “Well, after the spill you left the clipboard on the ground. Thankfully it was recovered and I was called because you didn’t leave your number. It also so happened that I had a few extra hundred dollars in my pocket, so I paid for it. I knew you wouldn’t,”

“How...did you know that?” Keith’s cheeks burned brightly.

“Well, we all know that this job alone might not pay for all of college. And you mentioned that you have been just storing everything your family gives you for emergency funds. So I decided that you needed a little treat.”

“Lance this isn’t little...” He whispered still mesmerized.

“Big little, same difference. But think of this way, I was tired of seeing you try and control a Hunk sized board.”

“I’ll pay you back,” Keith said immediately.

“Do it and I’ll throw the money in the ocean. I’m serious Keith, this is for you from me, okay?”

“I can’t believe you bought this for me....” Keith was having such a hard time wrapping his mind around it, he almost forgot to thank him. He looked up at Lance and moved closer. “Thank you so much.” He timidly wrapped his arms around Lance.

He felt arms on his back as Lance returned it. “I’ll admit it wasn’t entirely me, I did ask for a couple hundred from Allurah.”

“Allurah?” Keith moved so he could still look at Lance.

“Yeah, she was happy to help though. But I paid for the majority, I hope this makes you more comfortable here. With us,” Lance paused then looked serious. “And don’t think about this as some sort of bribery either. Don’t feel like you have to be my friend.”

“I won’t and I just sort of assumed we already were friends.” Keith blushed and let Lance go, he knelt back.

“I mean of course we are, but just wanted to make sure. Maybe I should have shown you this later...I had a question for you. Nevermind, forget it.” Lance shook his head and reached for the picnic basket.

Keith wanted to know the question but didn’t want to pry. He touched his board again and looked towards the cave.

“Do you come here often?” He asked.

Lance looked where he was looking and nodded. “All the time, when we were all younger this was our secret spot. We swam without lifeguards, changed in that cave, found buries treasure, it was a great time.”

“Buries treasure?” Keith asked.

“Well, Pidge found a gold tooth with her metal detector. That was the highlight of our finds.” He shrugged and opened the basket up and set down a blanket. “I brought my surfboard too, it’s in the cave. I was thinking we could have some surfing lessons while we’re here.”

“Okay, I don’t care about these pants anyway.” Keith shrugged, he watched Lance take out fork knives, whipped cream, and syrup.

“I brought swimming trunks, don’t worry. Your sugar daddy has got it covered.” Lance laughed.

Keith’s cheeks turned a bright red and he groaned. “Please never call yourself that again.”

Lance began laughing harder, he winked suggestively at Keith. “Your sugar daddy has brought you waffles by the sea,” Lance said again. He pulled out a wrapped plate of waffles. They weren’t warm but they still looked delicious.

“Lance!” Keith groaned he tried throwing a pebble at him but missed. Lance laughed harder and took little bowls filled with strawberries and blueberries.

“Fine fine, I’ll stop for now.” He gave Keith strawberries and himself blueberries. He poured syrup over the waffles and handed Keith a fork. “We can eat off of the same plate if you don’t mind.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.” Keith shrugged, the waffles had been conventionally cut into fourths. He looked at Lance before stabbing a waffle. “Um, what was your question?”

Lance looked a bit caught off guard, he suddenly found a lot of interest in his strawberry bowl. “Uh it was dumb, I was just.” He sighed. “I really like sleeping with you, you’re great in bed and everything. And it’s normal sleeping with you right?”

Keith blushed and nodded slowly, he wasn’t sure where Lance was going.

“Well our talk got to me, and I want more normal. I want...you know how we stay up late and watch movies and cuddle?” Again Keith nodded. “Well I want more of that, I actually want it all the time.”

“Staying up late?” Keith asked unsurely.

Lance shook his head, “No! Well...yes. But I also want the cuddling, and the casual touches, and the hugs, and kissing you just because you’re so damn cute. Or feeling comfortable pushing your hair to the side, or just telling people the reason why I don’t want to rub sunscreen on their back is because I have a totally adorable boyfriend.” Lance said all in one breath, he took a deep breath.

“Boyfriend?”

“I want to be exclusive Keith. And not just sort of exclusive, all the way exclusive. I want to know that you won’t cuddle people the same way you cuddle me. But I feel like because I bought you something expensive you feel pressure to be with me.”

Keith blinked taking in everything. It made sense now, his heart rate, his feelings towards Lance, and it certainly helped that Lance was bubbly, kind, and incredibly handsome. He bit his lip and made eye contact with Lance. “I’d like that.”

“Wait, you’d like what?”

“To be exclusive, and your boyfriend. And all the other romantic shit you just said. The board didn’t sway me I promise.”

Like a switch, Lance’s eyes lit up and his face broke into the most genuine smile. He leaned over and took Keith’s hands holding them tightly. “I’ll be the best fucking boyfriend on this whole fucking Earth. Try and find a better boyfriend than me, hint you won’t.”

Keith smiled at him, his happiness was contagious. “I’ll give you a month, then maybe I’ll go hunting for a better one.” He teased and feeling a lightness in his chest.

“Can I feed you waffle slices, or are we not there yet?” Lance asked hopefully.

“Um, I can handle the whole eating thing. But maybe next time...” He didn’t want to crush Lance’s bubble, but he didn’t trust him with syrup. Especially around his face.

“Fine, but I’ll be waiting.” Lance let go of one of Keith’s hand and picked up a strawberry. “Can we have one celebratory, ‘yay we’re dating now’ kiss?” Lance asked the cute look in his eye made it impossible to say no.

“Hm, fine our first kiss as boyfriends right?” Keith let himself smile. He leaned closer towards Lance. Lance mumbled a ‘hell yeah’ and pressed their lips together.

Keith’s lips couldn’t help but smile into the kiss, Lance tasted like hope, strawberries, and salt. He touched Lance’s face and deepened the kiss. There were so many things he could be worried about, things about himself that he didn’t like and that Lance might not like. But he couldn’t help but feel safe, so close to Lance with the waves of the ocean edging closer to them. He didn’t exactly feel normal, but he felt okay. 


End file.
